John Rankin; Pianist, Fiddler in Family Ensemble

John Morris Rankin, 40, a pianist and master fiddler who helped popularize the bluesy Cape Breton-style Celtic music in Canada’s maritime provinces. The oldest of 12 children, Rankin organized a family band in the 1980s around the vocal talents of three of his sisters and the guitar playing of a brother. That group, called the Rankin Family, sold tens of thousands of albums independently before signing a record contract with EMI. The group shortened its name to the Rankins and made six more albums, selling more than 2 million records before disbanding last summer. They also won five Juno Awards, the equivalent in Canada to the Grammy Awards. On Sunday, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia of injuries suffered when his truck plunged off a coastal highway into the sea.