[Harp-L] Another great artist passes....

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

Not a harmonica player, but very influencial (at least to me) in regards to simple direct style of projecting music....

Singer-songwriter Kenny Rankin passed away Sunday (June 7) at Los
Angeles' Cedars Sinai hospital from complications of lung cancer.
Rankin, who was 69, boasted a more than 50-year career in music,
beginning back in the '50s while he was on Decca Records.

Rankin's first bit of prominence came when he signed to Columbia Records in the '60s, and was invited to play guitar on Bob Dylan's 1965 album, 'Bringing It All Back Home.' 



The liner notes to his 1967 debut album, 'Mind Dusters,' were penned
by 'Tonight Show' host and TV icon Johnny Carson, who became such a fan
of the Washington Heights-native he invited Rankin to perform on the
late-night talk fest more than 20 times. 


Twenty years later, Rankin would again be honored by greatness when Paul McCartney, who was so impressed by Rankin's version of the Beatles' 'Blackbird,' he personally asked Rankin to perform the song when McCartney and John Lennon were inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. 

Rankin
was recently scheduled to go back in the studio with Phil Ramone before
news of his illness forced cancellation of the sessions.

 He is surived by his son, two daughters and a granddaughter.