Susan Hannah Rankin went to Victoria Composite High School in Edmonton Alberta and won a scholarship at Alberta College of Music. By the time she was 12 she had performed at the Edmonton Art Gallery. By the time she was sixteen she had performed at the Vancouver Art Gallery. At nineteen she was invited to study ballet at Harkness House in New York City by Nannette Charisse.
Ms. Rankin's song writing has won accolades from David Foster, Billboard Magazine and garnered her a publishing deal with Peer Southern NYC.
Ms. Rankin wrote choreographed and performed a one woman show which won Critics Choice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
When she performed her original music TimeOut Magazine in London compared her to "Kate Bush on acid", the Independent called her "a leotard full of energy" Cosmic Debris described her voice as "clear, sweet highs to searing, spine-tingling lows," Downtown Magazine in New York City called her "a wonderful writer/singer performer" the New York Paper Soho News remarked on her "compelling presence" After Dark Magazine in New York called her a "raven haired beauty with a dynamic alto" and The Scotsman of Edinburgh called her "The superb Susan Rankin."
Some of the musicians that have played Susan's music are: Arno Hecht (The Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Joe Cocker, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, Dion, J Geils Band, Joan Jett), Barry Finnerty (Hubert Laws, Tower of Power, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Ray Barretto, the Brecker Brothers, The Crusaders and Miles Davis) Gregg Gerson (Gloria Estefan, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Spector, Roy Orbison, Stanley Jordon, Roger Daltrey, The British Rock Symphony, Alexander Markov ) Charlie Torres (Rick Derringer, Johnny Winter, Chuck Berry), Terre Roche (The Roche Sisters), Steve Boddington (Hot Cottage) and Bob Derkash (Second City TV).
Susan Hannah went to City University of New York where she studied math and science and graduated with the highest GPA in the entire university. She won a NASA Fellowship and did research for NASA.
She moved back to Canada, to Vancouver Island, and created a character called Suzee Science-Singer and a series of workshops for young children incorporating music, dance and art to teach basic science concepts. She performed these in schools, libraries and shopping malls.
“She stopped the kids and adults in their tracks...It was quite amazing. She had the kids’ total attention for over an hour and they just loved it.” said Grania Litwin of Times Colonist in Victoria.
Susan wrote a tragic opera about hockey entitled
Gloves Off! A Hockey Opera in Three Acts, and the Center For Contemporary Opera in New York City selected to perform excerpts from it.
Susan finally committed to a recording project. October 31, 2016 she released her first ever CD...
Pagan Lullabies is a collecton of modal songs rejoicing in nature. In each piece Susan arranges words, sounds and movement to recreate the experience. Susan defines this non genre as Imagic Music. Defying genre, the music aims to sound like what the music is about.
Susan is currently working on a group of socially conscious political songs for a new performance and recording project. The working title is
"The Rankin Files"