Bertram McLean
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Bertram McLean, also known by his nickname "Ranchie", is a Jamaican musician active since the 1970s, who has recorded with many of Jamaica's biggest stars.
Biography
McLean began working as a session musician in the 1970s, as guitarist in the groups the RHT Invincibles (along with Ansell Collins, Lloyd Parks, and Sly Dunbar), The Randy's house band The Impact All Stars, The Revolutionaries, and Skin, Flesh & Bones, and playing on albums by artists including Earth & Stone, Culture, and Jimmy Cliff. He also released solo material including the "Toy" single. Primarily a guitarist and bass guitarist, he also plays keyboards. 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 and Sadao Watanabe, and playing on the soundtrack to the film Club Paradise, in which he also had a small role. In the 1990s his output increased, working with Burning Spear, I Roy, The Meditations, and Sly & Robbie.
