Raul Malo, whose operatic, lush lead vocals led the eclectic musical group The Mavericks, died Monday (Dec. 8) at age 60 following a battle with cancer.

“At 8:52 pm on December 8th, 2025, my love… our boys’ father… a devoted son and brother… and a friend to so many, gained his angel wings,” Betty Malo, the musician’s wife, wrote in a statement posted on Malo’s official Facebook page Tuesday (Dec. 9). “He was called to do another gig — this time in the sky — and he’s flying high like an eagle. No one embodied life and love, joy and passion, family, friends, music, and adventure the way our beloved Raul did. Now he will look down on us with all that heaven will allow, lighting the way and reminding us to savor every moment. Dino, Victor, Max and I — along with our entire family — thank all of you for your love and support through all of this. We felt every bit of it.In Raul’s own words: ‘Muchísimas gracias.’”

The Mavericks posted on the group’s official Facebook page, writing, “It’s with the deepest grief we share the passing of our friend, bandmate and brother Raul Malo on December 8th, 2025 at the age of 60.”

The statement continued: “Anyone with the pleasure of being in Raul’s orbit knew that he was a force of human nature, with an infectious energy. Over a career of more than three decades entertaining millions around the globe, his towering creative contributions and unrivaled, generational talent created the kind of multicultural American music reaching far beyond America itself.

“While his spirited performances garnered a massive & loyal following, and his powerful songwriting and musicianship earned multiple Grammy, ACM, and CMA awards, it was his lifelong commitment to the preservation of the multi-lingual American musical repertoire of which he was most proud, making history in 2020 with the first album ever to debut at the top of both the Latin Pop and Folk-Americana charts,” the group said before concluding, “Though his earthly body may have passed, Raul’s spirit will live on forever in heaven, and here on earth through the music, joy, and light he brought forth. His contributions to American and Latin music will be everlasting, as his songs and voice touched fans and fellow artists around the world.”

In June 2024, Malo, whose rich voice drew comparisons to Roy Orbison’s crystalline tone, revealed that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer, though the band continued to tour with Dwight Yoakam through his treatments. However, this year, they had to cancel tour dates due to his health battle, and the cancer then spread to his brain. On Dec. 5 and 6, many of Malo’s friends and musical colleagues — including Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Jeff Hanna — gathered for two shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to celebrate Malo and the band’s indelible contributions to music. Malo had been hospitalized on Dec. 4 and was unable to attend.

As Betty Malo chronicled on social media, Malo’s last few months were filled with music, as friends, colleagues and fellow musicians would drop by the house to play music with Malo and then for him as his condition deteriorated. He reunited with former Mavericks cofounder Robert Reynolds, who was dismissed from the band in 2014, as well as Thomas Anthony, his bandmate in the Tomboys, Malo’s teenage band before the Mavericks.

Malo, a first-generation Cuban-American, was born in Miami in 1965. He grew up in a bilingual household, and soaked in sounds of jazz, pop, country, Latin music and rock. Through the decades, the band’s music would draw upon that array of sounds to create their own musical hybrid.

The Mavericks originated in Miami, before music exec Tony Brown signed the group to MCA in 1991. The band released its MCA debut album From Hell to Paradise in 1992, followed by the project What a Crying Shame, which was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album was propelled by “What a Crying Shame,” “Oh, What a Thrill” and “There Goes My Heart,” all of which charted in the 20s on Billboard Hot Country Songs.

“To my brother, Raul! From the very beginning, I always felt a kindred spirit with the music that we both loved and our foundational punk rock attitude toward the industry,” said Big Machine Label Group founder/CEO Scott Borchetta in a statement to Billboard. Borchetta worked with the band from its early days at MCA as a promotion executive. “[Raul] was the ultimate rock star and he did it his way. I am forever grateful and proud of what we did together. He was a generational talent.”

The Mavericks won a Grammy for best country performance by a duo or group with vocals for its hit “Here Comes the Rain,” and earned eight Grammy nominations. In 1995 and 1996, the band was named the CMA’s vocal group of the year.

The group was both a critical and commercial success, though mainstream radio programmers didn’t always seem to know how to deal with it’s melange of musical styles. The Mabericks’ highest charting single was the rollicking “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down” (featuring Flaco Jiménez), which reached No. 13 on Billboard‘s Top Country Songs chart in 1996.

Instead, the band built its devoted following from its live shows, which were boisterous, sweat-soaked rowdy affairs with stellar musicianship on display surrounding Malo’s otherworldly vocals.

“Raul was a force on stage with the voice of both an angel and a tiger,” Austin City Limits executive producer Terry Lickona tells Billboard. “The Mavericks first appeared on ACL 30 years ago, did one of our only pandemic shows — without an audience — and kicked off our 50th anniversary special last year.”

In the 2000s, The Mavericks went on hiatus, but Malo continued creating music, including solo albums and work with the group Los Super Seven.

The Mavericks reunited in 2012 and released the album In Time. In 2015, it was named duo/group of the year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards. The Mavericks continued exploring new creative spaces. In 2020, the band recorded an album entirely in Spanish, as the group reimagined traditional songs from Latin America songs on En Español. Its most recent release, 2024’s Moon & Stars, featured appearances from Sierra Ferrell, Maggie Rose, Nicole Atkins and Max Abrams.

Tributes from his fellow artists have been pouring in. Otto posted on social media, “RIP Maestro. I wish you could have made it to the Ryman show to witness the tremendous outpouring of love from your friends and fans. Raul left behind a loving family and a decades long musical legacy of excellence. Please say a prayer for him & the whole Malo family.”

Producer Shooter Jennings posted on X, “Rest in peace Raul Malo! I loved the Mavericks. We got to hang many times and I used to tell him how much I went crazy for his version of ‘Us and Them.’ A performer and craftsman of the highest order.”

Country singer Randy Houser added, “I remember lying in my dorm in Mississippi listening to the Mavericks and just blown away by [Malo’s] beautiful, God-given voice. He truly was an inspiration.”

Malo is survived by his wife of 34 years, Betty, as well as sons Dino, Victor and Max; his mother, Norma; sister Carol; and Mavericks bandmates Paul Deakin, Eddie Perez and Jerry Dale McFadden.

One Battle After Another star Leonardo DiCaprio thinks artificial intelligence may “be an enhancement tool for a young filmmaker to do something we’ve never seen before,” even as he laments that some talented people could lose their jobs in the process. But in a chat with TIME magazine for their Entertainer of the Year honor, the Oscar-winning actor’s take on how AI might impact music in the future was a bit less optimistic.

“I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being,” DiCaprio told the magazine. That said, he rattled off a list of AI-spiked mashup songs he dubbed “absolutely brilliant,” while offering a harsh rebuke of original music made by algorithm.

“Haven’t you heard these songs that are mashups that are just absolutely brilliant and you go, ‘Oh my God, this is Michael Jackson doing the Weeknd,’” DiCaprio said by way of example of AI-generated content that either mixes up artists who’ve never recorded together or plunks them into unexpected genres. “Or ‘This is funk from the A Tribe Called Quest song ‘Bonita Applebum,’ done in, you know, a sort of Al Green soul-song voice, and it’s brilliant.’”

Leo said his initial reaction to such computer-animated mash-ups is “cool,” but that sugar high of novelty wears off quicker than Andy Warhol predicted. “But then it gets its 15 minutes of fame and it just dissipates into the ether of other internet junk,” DiCaprio lamented. “There’s no anchoring to it. There’s no humanity to it, as brilliant as it is.”

The comments come as AI-generated music has begun storming the charts in the form of fictional acts such as Breaking Rust, which recently hit the top of the Country Digital Songs Sales chart with “Walk My Walk? and Xania Monet, who rose to the top of the R&B Digital Song Sales chart with “How Was I Supposed to Know?”

But, considering the music DiCaprio said is on rotation at his place, you can kind of see where his tastes might skew toward the analog versus future shock digital. The actor copped to loving all the “Blind” bluesmen of the past — a list that included Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Willie Johnson — as well as such classic R&B/doo-wop crooners as the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers and Johnny Mercer. “I like that sort of World War II–era harmony. It keeps me calm and chill,” said DiCaprio, 51, who also loves such peak early 20th century acts such as guitarist Django Reinhardt, as well as soul/R&B icons Al Green and Stevie Wonder.

Global strategic communications agency 2PM Sharp has hired Caroline Fields to oversee the company’s new Nashville office, Billboard can reveal.

This marks 2PM Sharp’s fourth location, with MK Crooke and Emma Burgess leading the company’s London offices, while 2PM Sharp also has more than 20 publicists in New York and Los Angeles.

Prior to joining 2PM Sharp, Fields served as director of publicity at BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, working on publicity campaigns for artists including Blake Shelton, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Jason Aldean, Parmalee, Alexandra Kay, K. Michelle and more. The University of Tennessee alum’s career also includes publicity roles at Absolute Publicity and AristoMedia Group.

Executives Lindsay Galin and Jeff Raymond launched 2PM Sharp in 2024. The publicity agency is known for its work with an array of actors, musicians, athletes, filmmakers and comedians, in addition to work in corporate strategy, crisis management and awards campaigns.

Sinners is the big winner at the 17th annual awards presented by The African American Film Critics Association. The blockbuster was named its top film of the year on Tuesday (Dec. 9) and won seven additional awards: best ensemble, best director and best writing for Ryan Coogler; best actor for Michael B. Jordan, best supporting actress for Wunmi Mosaku, best emerging face (actor) for Miles Caton and best music for Ludwig Göransson.

Winners will be celebrated at the 17th annual AAFCA Awards on Feb. 8 at The Maybourne Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Coogler is very likely to receive multiple Oscar nods for Sinners, which he directed, wrote and coproduced. He has received two Oscar nods to date — best picture as a producer of Judas and the Black Messiah and best original song for “Lift Me Up.” Coogler is a current Grammy nominee for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, a nomination he shares with Göransson and his wife, Serena Göransson.

Hedda is the winner of two AAFCA awards: best independent feature and best actress for Tessa Thompson.

KPop Demon Hunters won best animated feature. The film’s soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks.

The AAFCA also announced its top 10 films of the year. “The cinematic voices recognized this year remind us of the power of film to challenge, inspire and unite,” AAFCA president and cofounder Gil Robertson said in a statement. “From bold new visions to unforgettable performances, these winners represent storytellers who are pushing the art form forward while speaking to the moment we are living in.”

Winners were selected by AAFCA’s 100+ members. Special achievement honorees will be announced at a later date.

Here are the winners of the 17th Annual AAFCA Awards, followed by its list of its top 10 films of the year.

Best actor – Michael B. Jordan, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Best actress – Tessa Thompson, Hedda (Amazon MGM)

Best supporting actress – Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Best supporting actor – Damson Idris, F1 (Apple/Warner Bros.)

Best documentary – The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)

Best animated feature – KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)

Best director – Ryan Coogler, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Best writing – Ryan Coogler, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Emerging face (actor) – Miles Caton, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Emerging face (actress) – Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Best independent feature – Hedda (Amazon MGM)

Best ensemble – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Best live action short – The Rebel Girls

Best documentary short – Hoops, Hopes & Dreams

Best animated short – Black Man, Black Man

Best music – Ludwig Göransson, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

AAFCA’s Top 10 Films of the Year