He is a guitarist, arranger and songwriter born in Robin’s Hall, Manchester, Jamaica who began his life in music by learning the ukulele as a child.
When he was a teenager he moved to Kingston to study at Badmin College and this was when he started to concentrate on the guitar. Before long he was a member of the Val Bennett Orchestra followed by the Eric Deans Orchestra and making live appearances in Jamaica and the Bahamas, where Les Paul, who had admired his playing, once gave him a lesson.
His style of playing from the 1950s onwards has since given him the credit of being an inventor of the “core style” which has since been heard in much of the ska genre of music. 1958 was the start of an era in a way as he led his own quintet and he met up with the producer Chris Blackwell who asked him to make an album, which was to become the first recording released by Island Records.
The following year he became a member of Clue J & His Blues Blasters with Cluett Johnson and recorded “Shuffling Bug” which is now thought to be perhaps the first example of ska.
In 1964 he teamed up with Blackwell again, this time in London, to record the first ska international hit song “My Boy Lollipop” with Millie Small in 1964. That same year, with his name beginning to become known, and after giving a performance at Ronnie Scott’s in London, he found himself becoming a resident musician at that jazz club for nine months.
Spreading his wings as a solo recording artist with Island Records he released several of his own discs as well as becoming a session guitarist and working in collaboration with successful singers such as Prince Buster and Jackie Mittoo.
A few of the artists he has worked with during the course of his busy career include Monty Alexander, Ray Charles, Jimmy Cliff, The Gladiators, Max Romeo, The Skatalites, Sonny Stitt, Toots & The Maytals and The Upsetters. Some of the many albums he has appeared on include his own Below the Bassline, Gotcha!, Grooving, Guitar in Ernest, In Search of the Lost Riddim, Memories of Barber Mack, Modern Answers to Old Problems, Ranglin Roots, Sounds & Power and Surfin’ as well as Take the Weather With You by Jimmy Buffett, To Be a Lover by George Faith, Sweet Talkin’ by The Heptones, One Love by Bob Marley & The Wailers and Future is Unwritten by Joe Strummer amongst many others.
In recognition for his contribution of music the Jamaican Government awarded him the Order of Distinction in 1973 and in 2008 he was inducted into the Jamaican Music Hall of Fame.
He announced his retirement in 2015 and went on a farewell tour in 2016.
Sources:
- http://www.myspace.com/ernestranglin
- http://www.jahsonic.com/ErnestRanglin.html
- http://home.planet.nl/~vanbergh/index.htm
- http://www.wnur.org/jazz/artists/ranglin.ernest/
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:k9foxqtgldte~T1
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Ranglin
- http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ernest+Ranglin
- http://www.buffettnews.com/resources/coralreeferband/?bid=248
- http://www.buffettnews.com/resources/discography/?album=93
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:k9foxqtgldte~T4
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:k9foxqtgldte~2~T40B