Rankin Family

The Rankin Family (originally known as The Rankins) are a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four SOCAN Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards and two Big Country Music Awards.

Career

Background

The Rankins come from a family of 12 siblings, all of whom would entertain the neighbours musically every third weekend as part of a cèilidh. The first Rankin Family band formed in the 1970s when siblings Geraldine, Genevieve, David, John Morris, and Raylene Rankin began performing at local weddings and dances in Cape Breton. As the older siblings went away to college and university, the younger siblings Jimmy, Cookie and Heather took their places.Canadian Post, ''The Cape Breton Post'', "Rankins Tour Postponed as Family Grieves", pg A2, January 13, 2007

1989 - 1999

Jimmy, John Morris, Cookie, Raylene and Heather Rankin released their own independent cassettes, ''The Rankin Family'' (1989) and ''Fare Thee Well Love'' (1990), featuring original songs and a combination of traditional jigs, reels and Celtic folk songs. These independent recordings were distributed by the Canadian independent folk music distribution company 'Soundwright' until the band's major label breakthrough with EMI. Their television debut was on the CBC Television variety show ''On the Road Again'' in 1989. EMI's re-release of ''Fare Thee Well Love'' in 1992, went quadruple platinum, selling over 500,000 copies; the title track was a Top 40 single in Canada.

In 1998 The Rankins first worked with The Chieftains on their album, '' Fire in the Kitchen'', performing the Celtic song, "An Innis Aigh" (The Happy Isle). That year the band released an album, ''Uprooted'', which had a country music flavour.

On September 17, 1999, after recording the song "Jimmy Mo Mhile Stor" with The Chieftains for their album, '' Tears of Stone'', the group issued a press release stating that they would no longer perform as a group in order to pursue independent interests and careers.

2000 - present

On January 16, 2000, John Morris Rankin was killed in a car accident in Cape Breton Island. His daughter Molly Rankin is now a musician, and is lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the indie pop band Alvvays.

In the spring of 2000 Heather Rankin joined Carly Simon on her New York City promotional tour for Simon's record '' The Bedroom Tapes'', and appeared with Simon on the Rosie O'Donnell show.

Jimmy Rankin has continued to write songs and has released five solo albums: '' Song Dog'' (2001), '' Handmade'' (2003), '' Edge of Day'' (2007), '' Forget About the World'' (2011), and ''Back Road Paradise'' (2014). Raylene Rankin released the solo albums ''Lambs in Spring'' (2004) and ''all the diamonds'' (2011). Heather Rankin released the solo albums ''A Fine Line'' (2016) and ''Imagine'' (2017); the first album included a cover of the Tears for Fears hit “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” featuring Halifax rapper, Quake Matthews. When not performing on their own, the sisters run The Red Shoe pub in Mabou.

One of the founders of the group, Geraldine Coyne (Rankin), died January 10, 2007, the result of a brain aneurysm, at her home in Calgary. She had not performed with the group since prior to the first recordings' being released.

On January 16, 2007, the album '' Reunion'' was released, and in 2009 the Rankin Family released their seventh studio album, '' These Are the Moments''.

On June 3, 2012, Raylene Rankin appeared on CBC Radio's ''The Sunday Edition'' where she spoke about her decade-long struggle with cancer. She died of metastatic breast cancer on September 30, 2012. After funeral services in St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Halifax and St. Mary's Church in Mabou, she was buried in St. Mary's cemetery."A final farewell to Raylene Rankin"
''Cape Breton Post'', October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2020-10-25.

Members

* Jimmy Rankin – vocals, guitar
* Cookie Rankin – vocals
* Heather Rankin – vocals

Former members

* Raylene Rankin (1960–2012) – vocals
* John Morris Rankin (1959–2000) – piano, fiddle
* David Rankin – vocals
* Geraldine Rankin (1958–2007) – vocals
* Genevieve Rankin – vocals

Discography

;Studio albums
*1989: ''The Rankin Family''
*1990: ''Fare Thee Well Love''
*1993: ''North Country''
*1995: ''Endless Seasons''
*1998: '' Uprooted''
*2007: '' Reunion''
*2009: '' These Are the Moments''

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Jam website pageThe Red Shoe Pub site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin Family, The
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups from Nova Scotia
Canadian country music groups
Canadian folk music groups
Juno Award for Single of the Year winners
Family musical groups
Canadian Celtic music groups
Canadian families
People from Inverness County, Nova Scotia
Juno Award for Group of the Year winners
Canadian Country Music Association Rising Star Award winners
Canadian Country Music Association Group or Duo of the Year winners
Scottish-Canadian families