Bertram McLean, also known by his nickname "Ranchie", is a Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n musician active since the 1970s, who has recorded with many of Jamaica's biggest stars.

Biography

McLean began working as a session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 in the 1970s, as guitarist in the groups the RHT Invincibles (along with Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins is a Jamaican keyboard player, producer, and occasional singer. Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica.-Biography:...

, Lloyd Parks

Lloyd Parks

Lloyd Parks is a reggae vocalist and bass player.-Biography:Parks' interest in music was fuelled by his uncle Dourie Bryan, who played in a calypso band, and Parks became the band's singer...

, and Sly Dunbar

Sly Dunbar

Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...

), The Randy's

Vincent "Randy" Chin

Vincent "Randy" Chin was a Jamaican record producer and label owner who ran the Randy's shop, recording studio, and record label, later moving to New York City and setting up the VP Records empire, now the world's largest independent label and distributor of Caribbean music in the...

 house band The Impact All Stars, The Revolutionaries

The Revolutionaries

The Revolutionaries is a Jamaican reggae band.-Career:Set up in 1975 as the house band of the Channel One Studios owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, The Revolutionaries with Sly Dunbar on drums and Robbie Shakespeare on bass, created the new "rockers" style that would change the whole Jamaican sound The...

, and Skin, Flesh & Bones, and playing on albums by artists including Earth & Stone, Culture

Culture (band)

Culture was a Jamaican roots reggae group founded in 1976. Originally they were known as the African Disciples.The members of the trio were Joseph Hill , Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes ....

, and Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

. He also released solo material including the "Toy" single. Primarily a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist and bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist, he also plays keyboards

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

. Throughout the 1980s he was in demand as a studio musician, joining Cliff's backing band Oneness and writing songs for Cliff such as "Rub-A-Dub Partner" and "Roots Woman", recording with The Clarendonians

The Clarendonians

The Clarendonians were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Jamaica, active from the mid to late 1960s.-History:The Clarendonians were originally Fitzroy "Ernest" Wilson and Peter Austin , the duo coming together in 1963 in their native Clarendon...

 and Sadao Watanabe

Sadao Watanabe (musician)

is an influential Japanese jazz musician who plays the alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone and flute. He is known for his Bossa Nova recordings, although his work encompasses a large range of styles with collaborations from musicians all over the world. Sadao first began learning music at the age...

, and playing on the soundtrack

Soundtrack

A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 to the film Club Paradise

Club Paradise

Club Paradise is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis starring Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, and Jimmy Cliff. The film reunites director/co-writer Ramis with most of his SCTV co-stars -- SCTV cast members Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty, and Robin Duke play...

, in which he also had a small role. In the 1990s his output increased, working with Burning Spear

Burning Spear

Winston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.-History:...

, I Roy, The Meditations

The Meditations

The Meditations are a reggae vocal harmony group from Jamaica formed in late 1974. They have released several studio albums and are still performing in the 2000s and today.-History:...

, and Sly & Robbie.

External links

• Ranchie Mclean at Roots Archives