He was extremely private in his early televised interviews, once stating that personal information distracted from musical performance, and thus even his date of birth was considered anecdotal information. Later, he became more open and stated in interviews that in the 60s and 70s he had suffered from serious addictions which affected his career, and he credited his family, and a period of spiritual study while undergoing rehabilitation sessions, for helping him to overcome his drug and alcohol problems by the early 80s. Some recorded songs on the Little David record label (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records) featured his wife Yvonne and his daughters singing background, as the Rankin Family Band. His album "Family" featured cover art of Rankin holding his two young daughters. The Rankins also had a son. 