Cleto Escobedo III, the longtime bandleader of Jimmy Kimmel Dwell! and a fixture of late-night tv for over 20 years, has died at 59.
The information was introduced by host Jimmy Kimmel, who shared a deeply private tribute to his greatest pal on Instagram, saying that Escobedo and he have been inseparable since they have been 9 years previous.
‘Early this morning, we misplaced an ideal pal, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,’ Kimmel wrote.
‘To say that we’re heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I’ve been inseparable since I used to be 9 years previous. The truth that we set to work collectively daily is a dream neither of us might ever have imagined would come true.
‘Cherish your folks and please preserve Cleto’s spouse, youngsters and fogeys in your prayers.’
For viewers of Jimmy Kimmel Dwell!, Escobedo and his saxophone helped outline the present’s power from its debut in 2003.
His band, Cleto and the Cletones, supplied a mixture of funk, jazz, and soul that grew to become the heartbeat of Kimmel’s late-night format.
His father, Cleto Escobedo Sr., additionally carried out alongside him on Jimmy Kimmel Dwell!
The unhappy information follows the sudden postponement of Thursday’s episode of the late-night discuss present on account of a ‘private matter’ involving the host, in accordance with Leisure Weekly.
In 2015, Kimmel mentioned his resolution to rent his pal with ABC7.
He stated that Escobedo was a ‘little one prodigy’ who ‘toured with Earth, Wind and Fireplace, Paula Abdul, ‘ and ‘had his personal document deal’ earlier than becoming a member of Kimmel’s present.
‘I used to be nervous, as a result of I assumed they’d say, “We don’t need your pal to be the band chief,”‘ he continued. ‘So I took the president of ABC to see him play along with his band, and he liked it.’
Kimmel went on to say: ‘After all I needed nice musicians, however I needed anyone I had chemistry with. And there’s no person in my life I’ve higher chemistry with than him.’
In a 2016 Jimmy Kimmel Dwell! phase celebrating Cleto Escobedo III’s fiftieth birthday, Kimmel provided viewers a glimpse into the pair’s decades-long friendship.
He reminisced about their earliest adventures rising up collectively, together with a makeshift sidecar bike they’d dubbed ‘the facet hack,’ which Escobedo gleefully steered into bushes and rubbish cans, a lot to Kimmel’s mock dismay.
Kimmel recalled afternoons when Cleto would lounge on the garden with a BB gun, playfully firing at him, or how the pair as soon as ‘borrowed’ his father’s shotgun to shoot kites out of the sky.
One story, particularly, captured Escobedo’s mischievous streak: as youngsters, he would quietly slip out of his pants within the backseat of Kimmel’s mom’s automotive and moon unsuspecting pedestrians, lowering everybody within the automobile to tears of laughter.
His reason behind demise is just not but identified.
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