Rankin Family

The Rankin Family is a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Members Jimmy Rankin - vocals , guitar John Morris Rankin - piano, fiddle (1989-2000) Cookie Rankin - vocals Raylene Rankin - vocals Heather Rankin - vocals History The Rankins come from a family of 12, all of whom would entertain the neighbours musically every third weekend as part of a ceilidh. 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 to college and university, the younger siblings Jimmy, Cookie and Heather took their places.[1] These five siblings (Jimmy, John Morris, Cookie, Raylene and Heather) 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. Their television debut was on the CBC variety show On the Road Again in 1989. Their most successful album was EMI's re-release of Fare Thee Well Love in 1992, which went quadruple platinum, selling over 500,000 copies; the title track was one of the year's biggest Top 40 hit singles in Canada. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, 6 Juno Awards, 4 SOCAN Awards, 3 Canadian Country Music Awards and 2 Big Country Music Awards. On September 17, 1999, the group issued a press release stating that they would no longer perform as a group in order to pursue independent interests and careers. John Morris Rankin was killed in a car accident in Cape Breton on January 16, 2000. His truck that he was driving to a hockey game plunged into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as he swerved to avoid a pile of salt on the road.[2] One of the original founders of the group, Geraldine Coyne (Rankin) died January 10, 2007, the result of a brain aneurysm, at her home in Calgary. Geraldine had not performed with the group since prior to the first recordings being released.[1] Jimmy Rankin has continued to write songs and has released three solo albums: Song Dog (2001), Handmade (2003), and Edge of Day (2007). In November 2006, it was announced that the four surviving Rankins -- along with John Morris's daughter Molly -- would be releasing a new album and reuniting for a cross-Canada concert tour. The tour was a great success, coast to coast.