Leon ("Skip") Caraco:  

Life Biographical information and influences: Leon Caraco was born in Long Beach and spent his teenage years in Huntington Beach, California growing up in the local “surf” culture. He began singing publicly at age seven in a church choir and started playing a guitar given to him by his sister at eight years old. He also dabbled on the organ and piano at home, which belonged to his mother. When at 11, he received his first electric guitar as a Christmas present; he teamed up with a few friends, all older than himself, and started playing lead guitar in local instrumental surf music bands. Soon in a variety of groups, he was playing “gigs” around Southern California venues. Early influences from “Surf” music evolved to R. & B., Classic Rock, Blues and Jazz. By his late teens, Leon was blending diverse influences from Jazz- Fusion, Blues and Rock in original compositions and performing in bands around Southern California and The San Francisco Bay area as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. His major focus of musical expression however, continued to be through the guitar while he also developed his vocal style, explored drums, keyboards and vibraphone. In his early twenties, Leon decided to pursue a parallel interest to music in Visual Arts and earned a Bachelors Degr...Expand for more