The Rankin Family
is a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, 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.
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THE RANKIN FAMILY TICKETS
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Career
A family of performers
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 away 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.
Separate ways
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.
Less than a year later, 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]
Jimmy Rankin has continued to write songs and has released three well-received solo albums:
Song Dog
(2001),
Handmade
(2003), and
Edge of Day
(2007).
Reunion
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. They have announced that are planning another reunion for 2009; this will include a new CD releasing February 3, 2009 with a tour, and a television special.
Members
- Jimmy Rankin – vocals , guitar
- Cookie Rankin – vocals
- Raylene Rankin – vocals
- Heather Rankin (1967- ) – vocals
Former members
- John Morris Rankin – (1959–2000) piano, fiddle
- Geraldine Rankin – 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.
Discography
Albums
| Year
| Album
| Chart Positions
| CRIA
| Label
|
| CAN Country
| CAN
|
| 1989
| The Rankin Family
|
|
|
| self-released
|
| 1990
| Fare Thee Well Love
|
|
|
|
| 1992
| Fare Thee Well Love
(re-issue)
| 1
| 5
| 5× Platinum
| Capitol
|
| The Rankin Family
(re-issue)
|
|
| Platinum
|
| 1993
| North Country
| 1
| 7
| 4× Platinum
| EMI Canada
|
| 1995
| Endless Seasons
| 6
| 13
| 2× Platinum
|
| Grey Dusk of Eve
|
| 29
| Gold
|
| 1996
| Collection
| 1
| 14
| 2× Platinum
| EMI Canada/Rounder
|
| 1997
| Do You Hear...Christmas
|
|
|
|
| 1998
| Uprooted
|
| 30
| Gold
|
| 2003
| Souvenir: 1989-1998
|
|
| Gold
| EMI Canada
|
| 2007
| Reunion
|
|
|
|
| 2009
| These Are the Moments
| 3
| 29
|
| MapleMusic
|
Singles
| Year
| Title
| Chart Positions
| Album
|
| CAN Country
| CAN AC
| CAN
|
| 1989
| "Mo Run Geal Dileas (My Faithful Fair One)"
|
|
|
| The Rankin Family
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| 1992
| "Orangedale Whistle"
| 7
| 25
|
| Fare Thee Well Love
|
| "Fare Thee Well Love"
| 9
| 8
| 44
|
| 1993
| "Gillis Mountain"
| 4
| 6
|
|
| "Rise Again"
| 31
| 4
| 12
| North Country
|
| "North Country"
| 4
| 5
| 30
|
| 1994
| "Borders and Time"
| 21
| 10
| 23
|
| "Tramp Miner"
| 31
| 26
|
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| "Turn That Boat Around"
|
|
|
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| 1995
| "Grey Dusk of Eve" (w/ Liam Maonlai)
|
| 31
| 85
| Grey Dusk of Eve
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| "You Feel the Same Way Too"
| 14
| 14
| 46
| Endless Seasons
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| 1996
| "The River"
| 36
| 12
| 38
|
| "Forty Days and Nights"
| 18
|
|
|
| "Roving Gypsy Boy"
| 9
| 23
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| Collection
|
| 1998
| "Movin' On"
| 7
|
|
| Uprooted
|
| "Maybe You're Right"
|
| 21
|
|
| "Bells"
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|
|
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| 1999
| "Let It Go"
| 40
| 16
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| 2006
| "Sunday Morning"
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| Reunion
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| 2009
| "Never Alone"
| 24
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| These Are the Moments
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| "Straight Into Love"A
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