Cleto Escobedo III, longtime band leader on Jimmy Kimmel Live! , died at the age of 59, Jimmy Kimmel shared via Instagram on November 11. “Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” Kimmel wrote alongside a photo of Escobedo. “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 met Escobedo in 1977 when Kimmel moved to Las Vegas from Brooklyn as a child. Besides shenanigans involving bike crashes and pranks, the two played music together, and Kimmel called Escobedo a “child prodigy,” remembering how the “whole school” wou

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