STEVE MARTIN CARO,
1948-2020

The Left Banke’s Steve Martin Caro, who sang lead on their hits “Walk Away Renee” and “Pretty Ballerina,” died Tuesday of heart disease. He was 71.

The son of a flamenco musician, Caro and four friends in New York formed the Left Banke in 1965. The father of keyboardist/songwriter Mark Brown recorded them in a studio he ran; one of their first recordings was “Walk Away Renee,” which would eventually be sold to Smash Records and became a Top Five hit in 1966. Several months later, “Pretty Ballerina” would go Top 15.

Their hits and debut album were celebrated for the arrangements and instrumentation that borrowed from classical music and the vocal harmonies, putting them in a league with The Zombies and The Kinks and paving the way for the psychedelic era in rock music.

Leonard Bernstein singled out "Pretty Ballerina" on his CBS show Inside Pop—The Rock Revolution, noting the record was brilliant in its use of Lydian and Mixolydian modes.

They would also have an impact on later generations: Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch has said his band’s sound was initially based on “Pretty Ballerina”; Boston’s Tom Scholz was inspired by “Walk Away Renee” when he wrote “More Than a Feeling.”

The band went through several personnel changes while recording their debut, and after its release, broke up. Ultimately, by late 1967, Caro, who at the time was going by just Steve Martin, led a new version of the group. The Left Banke would only issue three albums, the debut, Left Banke Too in 1968 and Strangers on a Train in 1986.