Songwriterobit: Kenny Rankin

Lung cancer has claimed the life of Kenny Rankin, songwriter and musician.

Signing to Decca records while still a teenager, Rankin's solo work (peaking on 1976's The Kenny Rankin Album) was perhaps outshone by his contributions to other's work. His guitar is on Bringing It All Back Home; his backing vocals are on the Beatles' Blackbird. He wrote the standards Peaceful, Haven't We Met and In The Name Of Love.

Having spent much of the 1980s concentrating on live music, Rankin returned to the recording studio for the mid-90s albums Professional Dreamer and Here In My Heart.

Kenny Rankin, who was 69, is survived by three children.