Jimmy Kimmel, the popular late-night television host, is grieving the loss of a cherished friend and colleague, Cleto Escobedo III, the bandleader for his show. Escobedo passed away at the age of 59.

Kimmel shared the heartbreaking news through a heartfelt Instagram post on Tuesday, expressing the profound sense of loss felt by all who knew Escobedo. “To say we are heartbroken is an understatement,” Kimmel wrote.

The deep-rooted friendship between Kimmel and Escobedo began in childhood when they were neighbors in Las Vegas. Growing up on the same street, the two forged a close bond that would last a lifetime.

In a 2022 interview with Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection oral history archive, Escobedo reminisced about meeting Kimmel as kids. “We just met one day on the street…and we kind of had the same sense of humor. We just became pals, and we’ve been pals ever since,” he recalled. Both shared a mutual admiration for David Letterman during their youth.

Escobedo’s passion for music led him to a successful career as a saxophonist. He toured with notable artists like Phillip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire and Paula Abdul, and collaborated with musicians such as Marc Anthony, Tom Scott, and Take Six. When Kimmel launched “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC in 2003, he advocated for Escobedo to become the show’s bandleader, a role he embraced with talent and enthusiasm.

“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel told WABC in 2015. “And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”

In 2016, on Escobedo’s 50th birthday, Kimmel dedicated a segment to his friend, recalling pranks with a BB gun or mooning people from the back of his mom’s car.

“Cleto had a bicycle with a sidecar attached to it. We called it the side hack. I would get in the sidecar and then Cleto would drive me directly into garbage cans and bushes,” Kimmel recalled.

News of Escobedo’s death comes after Thursday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was abruptly canceled. David Duchovny, Joe Keery and Madison Beer were set as the show’s guests. The date and cause of Escobedo’s death weren’t immediately known.

Escobedo’s father is also a member of the Kimmel house band and plays tenor and alto saxophones. In January 2022, the father-son duo celebrated nearly two decades of performing on-screen together.

“Jimmy asked me, ‘Who are we going to get in the band?’ I said, ‘Well, my normal guys,’ and he knew my guys because he had been coming to see us and stuff before he was famous, just to come support me and whatever. I’d invite him to gigs, and if he didn’t have anything to do he’d come check it out, so he knew my guys,” Escobedo recounted in the 2022 interview. “Then he just said, ‘Hey, man, what about your dad? Wouldn’t that be kind of cool?’ I was like, ‘That would be way cool.’”

In the 2022 interview, Escobedo said the bandleader job had one major benefit: family time.

“Touring and all that stuff is fun, but it’s more of a young man’s game. Touring, also, too, is not really conducive for family life. I’ve learned over the years, being on the road and watching how hard it is, leaving your kids for so long. Sometimes they’re babies; you come back and then they’re talking, it’s like, ‘What?’” he said.

Escobedo’s survivors also include his wife Lori and their two children.

“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 wrote.