SCSU alum wins 2nd Grammy

Charleston jazz group Ranky Tanky, which includes South Carolina State University alumnus Charlton Singleton, won its second Grammy at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Ranky Tanky’s album called “Live at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival” was nominated in November 2022. It won this year, garnering Ranky Tanky its second Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album.

In 2017, the group released its debut album, the eponymous “Ranky Tanky.” In 2018, the album reached the top of the Billboard, iTunes and Amazon contemporary jazz charts.

In 2019, they accomplished the same feat with the release of their sophomore effort, “Good Time.” It won a Grammy Award in 2020.

A native of Awendaw, South Carolina, Singleton began his musical studies on the piano at the age of 3. He then studied the organ, violin, cello and trumpet throughout elementary, middle and high school.

He received his bachelor’s degree in music performance from S.C. State in 1994.

He is a former member of the university’s Marching 101 Band and Henderson Davis Players, the university’s theatre group. While performing at the Henderson Davis Theatre, Singleton played trumpet in statewide performances including “The Wiz,” “Bubbling Brown Sugar” and “Sophisticated Ladies.”

Since graduating from S.C. State, he has taught music at the elementary, middle and high school levels, and he is an adjunct faculty member at the College of Charleston.

In 2008, he co-founded and became the artistic director and conductor of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra, also known as Charleston’s Own Resident Big Band.

In November 2016, he was named the inaugural artist in residence at downtown Charleston’s Gaillard Center. He remained in this position until July 2019. At that point, he was named artist in residence emeritus. In this position, he continues to lead the Summer Youth Jazz Orchestra Camp and the “Jazz Through the Ages” assembly, which attracts a capacity crowd of students at the Gaillard Center.

Ranky Tanky features trumpeter/singer Singleton, singer Quiana Parler, singer/guitarist Clay Ross, bassist Kevin Hamilton and drummer Quentin Baxter.

Singleton, Hamilton, and Baxter initially played together in the jazz ensemble Gradual Lean in the late ’90s.

The group’s members eventually drifted apart as each moved on to other projects until one of them was inspired to reunite the band with a new name and sound— infusing traditional Gullah songs with jazz, blues, folk and gospel influences.