Andrew Ranken | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ranken playing the drums | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1953-11-13)13 November 1953 London, England |
| Died | 10 February 2026(2026-02-10) (aged 72) |
| Genres | Celtic punk |
| Instrument | Drums |
| Formerly of | The Pogues |
Andrew Ranken (13 November 1953 – 10 February 2026) was an English drummer. He played with several blues rock and new wave bands, before joiningThe Pogues from 1983 until their breakup in 2014.
Ranken was born on 13 November 1953 in theLadbroke Grove area ofLondon. He spent his early childhood listening to his parents' jazz records[1] before moving toAbbots Langley when he was five andHeathfield in East Sussex a year later. He attendedPriory School, Lewes, where he was in the same year asPete Thomas andWreckless Eric,[2] and was inspired byThe Beatles andThe Rolling Stones.[1] He became a musician after an older cousin gave him a guitar he had tired of trying to learn and became a drummer after being given a pair ofbongos. Aged 14, he joined ablues rock band, Joshua Bagmat, which was led byStephen Warbeck, featured Thomas, and disbanded when the members left school. Ranken subsequently worked with Warbeck andPaul Bradley as part of The hKippers [sic].[2]
After leaving school, Ranken moved to London to spend a year at theCentral School of Art and Design,[2] where he formed the band Lola Cobra with three members of the sculpture department includingLene Lovich and her boyfriend Les Chappell.[3][2] After losing interest in the course, he dropped out and sold his drumkit to fund a series of travels with the intention of writing a book of writings and drawings; first to a squat in Amsterdam, which he left after it was ransacked, followed by a tent in a campsite in suburban Holland, where he spent several weeks while working in a peanut factory. He then moved to France and then Italy, where his progress was stolen. He developed adental abscess after returning to France and returned to his parents, now living inEpsom.[2]
Ranken became the singer for anew wave andR&B band while living with his parents called The Stickers and later moved toIslington with a bandmember. He had a number of unpleasant jobs including spells as a painter and decorator, a builder, a screw factory operative, and a porter atSt Bartholomew's Hospital. After histemp agency assigned him to work the incinerator atSt Leonard's Hospital inHackney, he walked out after finding a half-burntAlsatian that smelt like bacon and took a three year course in media studies and sociology atGoldsmith's in 1980. The Stickers disbanded around this time after it became impossible to keep members in the band, prompting Ranken to become the singer for The Operation with numerous friends and family members. He then moved into a squat inHuntley Street with his girlfriend and then to the Hillview Estate following an eviction.[2]
In March 1983, Ranken joined The Pogues, then known as Pogue Mahone, where he replaced John Hasler on drums. He juggled both The Operation and The Pogues for a while until leaving the former to concentrate on the latter and spent the first two and a half years playing The Pogues' drums standing up until he contracted blood poisoning and had to play one-handed while he recovered.[2] He played on every album from their 1984 debutRed Roses for Me, on which he was credited as The Clobberer, until their 1996 albumPogue Mahone, including on "Fairytale of New York" and "The Irish Rover".[3] Their 1991 compilation albumThe Best of The Pogues was dedicated to Ranken's long-term partner Deborah Korner, who had died earlier that year from ananeurysm; two songs on subsequent albums were also dedicated to Korner.[3]
Ranken also performed with The Pogues from their reunion in 2001 until their official break up in 2014.[1] Ranken released the charity single "Take Me Down to St. Joe's" in July 2023 with The Mysterious Wheels, a band containing two of Korner's brothers; the single was released in support of St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney following Ranken's own diagnosis ofchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).[3] Health issues caused Ranken to withdraw from The Pogues' 2024 tour.[4] He died on 10 February 2026, at the age of 72, becoming the fourth member of The Pogues to pass away, followingPhilip Chevron (2013),Darryl Hunt (2022), and MacGowan (2023); he was survived by two sons.[3]