The Rankin Family (originally known as The Rankins) are a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

musical family group from

Mabou, Nova Scotia Mabou is an unincorporated settlement in the Municipality of the County of Inverness on the west coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The population in 2011 was 1,207 residents. It is the site of The Red Shoe pub, the An Drochaid Mu ...

. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15

East Coast Music Awards The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mu ...

, six Juno Awards, four

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

Awards, three

Canadian Country Music Awards The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) was founded in 1976 as the Academy of Country Music Entertainment to organize, promote and develop a Canadian country music industry. The groundwork for the association began on June 3rd, 1973 when a g ...

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 A cèilidh ( , ) or céilí () is a traditional Scottish or Irish social gathering. In its most basic form, it simply means a social visit. In contemporary usage, it usually involves dancing and playing Gaelic folk music, either at a house p ...

. 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 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 Society of Composers, Author ...

'' (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 EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

'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 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

single in Canada. In 1998 The Rankins first worked with

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...

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 Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and currently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keyboa ...

. In the spring of 2000 Heather Rankin joined Carly Simon on her New York City promotional tour for Simon's record ''

The Bedroom Tapes ''The Bedroom Tapes'' is the 18th studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Arista Records, on May 16, 2000. The album received widespread critical acclaim upon release, and Simon promoted it through many television app ...

'', 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 ''Back Road Paradise'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian folk music artist Jimmy Rankin. It was released on April 1, 2014 on Rankin's own Song Dog label and distributed by Fontana North. The album is more country music, country than Rankin's p ...

'' (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 ''These Are the Moments'' is the seventh studio album by Canadian folk music group The Rankin Family. It was released by MapleMusic Recordings on February 3, 2009. The album peaked at number 29 on the Canadian Albums Chart. Track listing Externa ...

''. 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 James Kevin Rankin (born May 28, 1964) is a Canadian country and folk artist. A member of The Rankin Family, Rankin has also released seven solo albums: ''Song Dog'' (2001), '' Handmade'' (2003), ''Edge of Day'' (2007), ''Forget About the World' ...

– vocals, guitar *

Cookie Rankin A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nu ...

– vocals * Heather Rankin – vocals

Former members

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

Geraldine Rankin Geraldine may refer to: People * Geraldine (name), the feminine form of the first name Gerald, with list of people thus named. * The Geraldines, Irish dynasty descended from the Anglo-Norman Gerald FitzWalter de Windsor * Geraldine of Albania, ...

(1958–2007) – vocals * Genevieve Rankin – vocals

Discography

;Studio albums *1989: ''

'' *1990: '' Fare Thee Well Love'' *1993: '' North Country'' *1995: '' Endless Seasons'' *1998: '' Uprooted'' *2007: '' Reunion'' *2009: ''

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