Steve Caddick passed away on November 5th, he was 73 years old. He spent his last day singing his favorite songs surrounded by his family. A lifelong banjo player he first studied at the feet of his father, Bill Caddick. He began serious study at the age of nine. He briefly turned to guitar in the 1960s and played with rock bands called Benedict and the Traitors and Violets of Dawn, but the gift of a new banjo sent him headlong into the instrument for the rest of his life.
In the 70s he played regularly at a Ground Round Restaurant with his father. Later in life he could be heard playing on his father’s 1924 4-string Vega tenor banjo. He was a founding member of several banjo bands including the Parsons Pluckers, Stone Street Strutters, The Red Suspenders, and most recently Avalon. He was the founder and musical director of the New England Banjo Orchestra and helped run several banjo related conventions and events in the North East. After 2008 he focused in on his career as a banjo educator and a master engraver of banjos. He was teaching banjo online as well as in person before many had thought to do so. He was also an active and welcome contributor to online banjo forums. He was inducted into the Banjo Hall of Fame in 2013.
