Stuart Rankine is an Anglo-Scot who was born in the old North Riding district of Yorkshire where a decent guitar was hard to find:

 

'' In those days good guitars nearly all came from the U.S.A. and were far too expensive for most people. So, when a half-decent instrument finally arrived, I did the same as other young aspiring musicians of the time, and made do with 'barbed wire' strings, a warped guitar neck and a book by Bert Weedon.''

 

Many grooved fingers later, and influenced by, the late great, Jack Bruce, Stuart switched to bass and began a long career as a professional musician. He learned his trade the traditional way, spending hours in the back of a transit van and playing all kinds of gigs from Wigan Casino in the days of Northern Soul, to American forces bases in Holland, Germany, Belgium and Italy:

 

'' That was the time of the Cold War, and West Germany in particular was full of military personnel who loved  good, genuine live music every night. For a kid who'd never been abroad before, being paid to play fantastic gigs every night and meeting so many foreign musicians and travellers or hanging out with the U.S. Army Ski Patrol in the Bavarian Alps was truly another world.''

 

After his European jaunt Stuart chased his Scottish roots and based himself in

Edinburgh Scotland where he played with, and learned from, a great many talented

artists and musicians:

           

'' Edinburgh was a great place to become a well rounded musician.

I played Rock, Pop, Blues, Celtic Folk, Jazz, Country, World

and all sorts of crossovers in between. ''

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The following decades saw him tour in bands at home and abroad; perform on

tv and radio; teach at Music College and work in theatre productions such as

Lloyd-Webber's 'Joseph' and Bill Brydon's The Big Picnic.

He also appeared at festivals including:  

Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glastonbury, supporting acts as diverse as:

The Gypsy Kings, Billy Bragg, Hawkwind,The Yellowjackets and John Martyn, playing on 

albums such as Mike Heron's Where the Mystics Swim and Dick Gaughan's Sail On. 

A few people he worked with in those years include:   

Mike Heron; Elaine C. Smith  (and Carlos Mejia Godoy);  Dick Gaughan; 

Hamish Moore and Dick Lee; Tam White; Savourna Stevenson; Rick Taylor; 

Jim Prime (of Deacon  Blue); Ted McKenna; Mike Travis' EH15; Freddie King;

Linnie Paterson; New Celeste; and the Dysart and Dundonald pipe band.

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'' Maybe I'm the only bass player in history to have played on a pipe band album. Who knows?

 They were a great band and ex-world champions, now sadly no more. I have my friend,

Canadian drummer, Jim Walker to thank for that gig.''

 

It was towards the end of this era that Stuart began seriously writing. At first, a couple of instrumentals for Mike Travis' crossover jazz band EH15 and their album The View from Where, and later, songs for himself:

  

'' That's when I really started to work at it, and while travelling around  Europe on and off over

the next few years I began to write songs, the first five of which are on my debut E.P: 

                                                                                                                                             

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