The Rankin Family
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- Jimmy Rankin
- Cookie Rankin
- Heather Rankin
The Rankin Family is a Canadian folk music family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.The Rankins come from a family of 12, all of whom would entertain the neighbours musically every third weekend as part of a ceilidh.
Five of the siblings began performing professionally in 1989. The Rankins 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.Jimmy Rankin has continued to write songs and has released two solo albums: Song Dog (2001) and Handmade (2003).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.
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 on September 30, 2012 at the age of 52.Discography * The Rankin Family (independent, 1989) * Fare Thee Well Love (independent, 1990) * Fare Thee Well Love (Capitol, 1992) * The Rankin Family (Capitol, 1992) * North Country (EMI, 1993) * Endless Seasons (EMI, 1995) * Grey Dusk Of Eve (EMI, 1995) * Collection (EMI, 1996) * Do You Hear…Christmas (EMI, 1997) * Uprooted (EMI, 1998) * Souvenir:1989-1998 (2003)
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