Sheila Rankin

Lead singer of the Minneapolis based R&B /New Wave Girl Group, The Girls September 13, 1965, Minneapolis, MN February 9, 2016 Rock Island, Illinois Shelia Rankin was the lead singer of the girl group The Girls, but before that she and fellow band member Germain Brooks were the Minneapolis group The Stylle Band with her brother Bryan Rankin. She join his band at 16 before being discovered by recently influential and former Prince protege and former Revolution band member Andre Cymone in 1982, after releasing the debut album for Columbia. Along with another band member, Doris Ann Rhodes, Shelia and Germain formed The Girls in 1982 and their debut single, "I've Got My Eyes On You" was a hit in clubs across the Midwest with Shelia Rankin (age 17) as the lead. Sheila was 19 when The Girls official and only album "Girl Talk" was released on August 13,1984. After the band disbanded in 1985, due to the lack of publicity and promotion of the album, Shelia returned to Minneapolis to sing at night clubs and backing bands and worked as a nurse in Rock Island, Illinois, where she also became a wife going under the name Shelia Rankin-Gay and a mother of 3. She died on February 9, 2016 at the age of 50 after battling breast cancer.