“An electric performer who conjures comparisons to Bruno Mars, Anthony Rankin is a graduate of the old school: a faithful
student
of classic R&B and pop. If Mars is the closest thing in 2013 to
Michael Jackson circa Thriller, Anthony Rankin is vintage-correct Purple
One: a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist, obsessive self-producer,
exhilarating entertainer, and anything-but-average songwriter.”

Check out Anthony at his official Website, Facebook, Twitter, BandCamp and YouTube. Anthony, a Pittsburgh native, who is already an established songwriter in the country-pop world, is now starting his own musical journey with the first release in a series of EPs entitled, “Love Elektrik Part 1“. Subsequent installments will be rolled out throughout this year and I want to thank him for taking a few to participate in this edition of First/Last.

Favorite thoughts,
experiences about Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh was a great city in which to grow up and cut my teeth. I lived there
for 25 years, so I have way too many thoughts and experiences—positive and
negative—to boil down to a singular answer, LOL. For better or worse, it’s the
town that gave me a start in the music business, and it’s where I earned a
fantastic musical education. I’m not overly nostalgic about my hometown like
most people I know from the area, but my family is there and it will always be
where I come from. I find a certain pride in that. I don’t think it will
ever become a “music town” in the way that its identity is
sports-driven, but the region certainly doesn’t cease to produce talent in the
arts, year after year.

Thanks, Anthony. Always love the ‘Pittsburgh boy done good’ story.