Paula Abdul is mourning the loss of the late Cleto Escobedo.
After the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” bandleader died on Tuesday at the age of 59, the singer, 63, paid tribute to the musician.
“My heart is heavy today as we say goodbye to the incredible Cleto Escobedo III,” Abdul wrote via Instagram on Wednesday alongside footage of the pair performing together while on tour. Escobedo played sax for the pop star.
“I first met Cleto when he was playing sax in a small bar at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas,” the dancer recounted. “I was putting together my band for my first world tour and the moment I heard him, I knew I had to hire him, even though he didn’t have any touring experience yet.”
Abdul called his energy and talent “undeniable,” adding that “he went on to have an amazing career, reuniting with his best friend Jimmy Kimmel as the bandleader on Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“Cleto was pure light and soul, both on and off stage,” the former “American Idol” judge concluded. “Sending so much love to his family and everyone who loved him.”
Kimmel revealed the news of Escobedo’s death in an emotional Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” the 57-year-old wrote.
“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. 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,” Kimmel continued. “Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”
A cause of death was not announced, but Page Six reported that Escobedo had complications stemming from a liver transplant.
The news comes after “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” aired a rerun during the Nov 6 episode, due to a “personal matter.”
The scheduled episode was originally supposed to feature “The X-Files” star David Duchovny, “Stranger Things” star Joe Keery and singer Madison Beer.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, @jimmykimmellive needed to reschedule my performance that was originally scheduled to air tonight to a later date,” Beer, 26, wrote in a post on Nov. 7.
Escobedo’s band, “Cleto and the Cletones,” performed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since the ABC talk show premiered in 2003. His father, Cleto Escobado Sr., is also part of the band.
During a 2015 interview with ABC7, Kimmel described Escobedo as a “child prodigy.” The comedian was adamant about including his longtime pal in his series.
“I’ll tell you one thing. It had to have my band leader, Cleto,” he told the outlet. “I was nervous, because I thought they’d say, ‘We don’t want your friend to be the band leader.’ So I took the president of ABC to see him play with his band, and he loved it.”
He added, “Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with. And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”
Kimmel broke down in tears on Tuesday night’s show as he shared intimate details about the “great friend, father, son, musician and man.”
“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,” he began. “In 1977, my family moved to Las Vegas. My parents sold our house in Brooklyn, and we moved 3,000 miles across the country.”
Kimmel said he met Escobedo when he and his family left Brooklyn and moved to Las Vegas. Escobedo lived a few houses down in the neighborhood.
“He was a year older than me. His name was Cleto, but we called him Junior,” he said, adding that they first met while riding bikes.
Kimmel said the two instantly became best friends, revealing that at one point he slept over Escobedo’s home “33 nights in a row.”
Stating that he will never forget how Escobedo “was a phenomenal sax player from a very young age,” Kimmel recalled how his friend “would get standing ovations in junior high school if you could believe that.”
“When you do a show like this, you need a few things. You need a desk, an announcer, a Guillermo, and you need a band,” he went on. “Of course, I wanted Cleto to lead my band. We grew up watching Dave (Letterman) and Paul (Shaffer) and the idea that anyone other than him would lead the band was terrifying. It had to be him.”
The late-night host said that since hiring Escobedo and his father, the trio have been “working together every day for almost 23 years.”
“I’ve often said that the single best thing about doing this show was getting the opportunity to allow Cleto Senior to pick up where he left off in 1966 and become a musician again with his son,” Kimmel said.
He also introduced Escobedo’s mother, who was in the crowd.
“[Cleto] Senior and Sylvia, Cleto’s mom, have been like second parents to me,” he detailed through tears. “Everyone loves Cleto. Everyone here at the show. We are devastated by this. It’s not… It’s just not fair,” 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.”
