Image Credit: Getty Images for Samsung Cleto Escobedo, the beloved Jimmy Kimmel Live! bandleader of Cleto and the Cletones, died on November 11, 2025. He was 59. Jimmy Kimmel was the one to break the news in a heartbreaking statement, encouraging others to "cherish your friends and please keep Cleto's wife, children and parents in your prayers." "Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III," Kimmel wrote via Instagram alongside a picture of Escobedo on stage. "To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement.