Betty – who had sons Dino, Victor and Max with the “beloved” musician – paid tribute to the way he embraced “life and love”.
She continued: “No one embodied life and love, joy and passion, family, friends, music, and adventure the way our beloved Raul did.
“Now he will look down on us with all that heaven will allow, lighting the way and reminding us to savour every moment.
“Dino, Victor, Max and I – along with our entire family – thank all of you for your love and support through all of this. We felt every bit of it.
“In Raul’s own words: ‘Muchisimas gracias’.”
His bandmates – who most recently included fellow founding member Paul, plus Eddie Perez and Jerry Dale McFadden – also paid an emotional tribute to the singer.
They wrote on Instagram: “Anyone with the pleasure of being in Raul’s orbit knew that he was a force of human nature, with an infectious energy.
“Over a career of more than three decades entertaining millions around the globe, his towering creative contributions and unrivalled, generational talent created the kind of multicultural American music reaching far beyond America itself.”
They added that his “spirit will live on forever in heaven, and here on earth through the music, joy, and light he brought forth”.
They continued: “His contributions to American and Latin music will be everlasting, as his songs and voice touched fans and fellow artists around the world.”
Malo was first diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2024, and two months later he revealed he had developed Leptomeningeal disease.
This meant the cancer had spread to the membranes around his spinal cord and brain.
He wrote on Facebook in September last year: “It’s a very unpredictable and indiscriminatory disease.
“But I want to let everybody know, I am in no way alone, or scared. I have an amazing wife and boys, wonderful family, team, road crew, band, friends and fans.
“I don’t even have enough words to describe the love and support that I’m getting right now.”
With the Mavericks, Malo released 13 studio albums, including 2024’s Moon and Stars.
Their highest charting single in Britain was 1998’s Dance The Night Away, which the singer wrote in one afternoon and once described to Songwriting Magazine as a “happy accident”.
He said: “I was in my house in my work room, my little studio room, and it was written in an afternoon.
“But it sounded like something, and it was really an eye-opener as to how simple a song can be.”
