Cleto Escobedo III’s legacy lives on.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has honored Escobedo, the program’s house band leader who died Nov. 11 at age 59, by changing the musical group’s name.
During the late night show’s title sequence on Monday’s episode, Cleto and the Cletones was officially rebranded as The Cletones.
Escobedo led the house band for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from the show’s premiere in 2003 until his death last week.
His cause of death was listed as cardiogenic shock, with vasodilatory shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver listed as underlying causes, according to TMZ.
Kimmel, 58, abruptly canceled the live taping of his show scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 6, due to a “personal matter.” On Nov. 11, he announced on Instagram that Escobedo had tragically passed away.
“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” the comedian wrote.
“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement,” Kimmel continued. “Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true. Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”
Kimmel then broke down in tears while paying tribute to his late friend during last Tuesday night’s “hardest” opening monologue.
“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way, but this one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young,” Kimmel told his audience.
The Emmy Award winner reflected on the pair’s history, revealing that they met as kids living in the same neighborhood in Las Vegas. When Kimmel landed his own talk show as an adult, he recruited Escobedo and Escobedo’s father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., for his band.
“Everyone loves Cleto. Everyone here at the show. We are devastated by this. It’s not … It’s just not fair,” a choked-up Kimmel said in his monologue.
“Even though I’m heartbroken to lose him, I’m going to take yet another lesson from him and acknowledge how lucky I was to have him literally at my side for so many years,” Kimmel added.
Prior to his gig on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, Escobedo went on tour with Paula Abdul and Marc Anthony. He was later signed to a record deal, under which he released his first album.
