My name is Anthony Rankin.
I’ve been experimenting with music in some shape or form since walking out on a piano recital at four years old due to stage fright. My dad was a pro drummer in a ‘70s-80s rock band that had a major record deal, toured relentlessly and received major praise from the likes of Rolling Stone magazine. Needless to say, I grew up with little awareness of an existence beyond a life in music.
Once I laid my hands on my first electric guitar at age eight, there was no turning back (especially once I got a hold of some Prince records). Between then and now, I’ve written a bunch of songs and performed them hundreds of times in my hometown of Pittsburgh, as well as in and around Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and my current city of residence, Nashville.
At 17, I ventured into a career as an independent recording artist. To date, the records I’ve self-released have sold over 4,000 copies and still see regular action on iTunes and the like. Along the way, I’ve received some kind words from regional press, saw a little airplay on local radio, shot a slick music video with my band, and somehow convinced Borders Books & Music to support a solo tour and carry my CDs nationally, without a label or proper distribution.
After high school, I was lucky enough to study my passion at the university level and received a Bachelor’s Degree of Music from Duquesne University in 2006. I still owe them a ton of money.
Ever since I started putting lyrics and chords together all those years ago, I’ve straddled the fences between rock and R&B, pop and funk, country and jazz. I can’t sit still in one place for very long, but my target is always big hooks, big grooves, and big emotion. I defer to the infectious three-minute pop song over the 12-minute prog opus.
At the end of the day, I would love for all of you to be fanatical lovers of my music; come to every show, download every album (legally), tell every one of your sorority sisters about how dreamy I am. But hey, I’m not for everybody. The majority, though? Maybe.
Listen for yourself. In all seriousness: I hope you dig it.
And if you do, you know where to find me.
Cheers.
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