Singer. She shall be remembered as a key member of the award winning Celtic ensemble The Rankin Family. The fifth child in a family of 12, she was raised in Mabou, Nova Scotia, and started singing with her siblings during the 1970s. Raylene went on to finish her education, graduating from St. Francis Xavier University in 1982 and from Dalehousie Law School in 1987, and was admitted to the Bar but as the Rankin Family gained popularity in the late 1980s she became a lead vocalist and regular performer. She was to be heard on CBC's "On the Road Again", participated in the two best selling albums "The Rankin Family" (1989) and 1990's "Fare Thee Well Love", and was to share in an eventual six Juno Awards, 15 East Coast Music Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards, and other honors. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, she responded well to treatment, in 2004 released her debut solo record entitled "Lambs in the Spring", then in 2007 began touring again when the Rankin Family reunited after a hiatus of several years. Raylene experienced a recurrance of her disease in 2009 but in 2011 was to have a hit with her CD "Little Diamonds"; later in 2011 she was found to have hepatic metastases and was thereafter too ill to perform. Despite aggressive chemotherapy she died of cancer with her significant recorded legacy still in print.
Singer. She shall be remembered as a key member of the award winning Celtic ensemble The Rankin Family. The fifth child in a family of 12, she was raised in Mabou, Nova Scotia, and started singing with her siblings during the 1970s. Raylene went on to finish her education, graduating from St. Francis Xavier University in 1982 and from Dalehousie Law School in 1987, and was admitted to the Bar but as the Rankin Family gained popularity in the late 1980s she became a lead vocalist and regular performer. She was to be heard on CBC's "On the Road Again", participated in the two best selling albums "The Rankin Family" (1989) and 1990's "Fare Thee Well Love", and was to share in an eventual six Juno Awards, 15 East Coast Music Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards, and other honors. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, she responded well to treatment, in 2004 released her debut solo record entitled "Lambs in the Spring", then in 2007 began touring again when the Rankin Family reunited after a hiatus of several years. Raylene experienced a recurrance of her disease in 2009 but in 2011 was to have a hit with her CD "Little Diamonds"; later in 2011 she was found to have hepatic metastases and was thereafter too ill to perform. Despite aggressive chemotherapy she died of cancer with her significant recorded legacy still in print.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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