Alan Rankine (born 17 May 1958, Edinburgh, Scotland) played keyboards, and guitars, for the rock band known as The Associates, which he co-founded with Billy Mackenzie in the late 1970s.

Together they recorded 3 albums: The Affectionate Punch (1980), Fourth Drawer Down (1981) and Sulk (1982). The alchemy between Rankine's multi-instrument talents and MacKenzie's multi-octave voice (and cryptic lyrics) resulted in a collection of songs which remain unclassifiable even today. Rankine left the band in 1982 on the eve of what would have been the Sulk tour.

While Mackenzie continued with other "associates", Rankine started a solo career as a recording artist as well as a record producer. He recorded three solo albums: The World Begins to Look Her Age (1986), She Loves Me Not (1987) and the fully instrumental The Big Picture Sucks (1989).

Then he became a producer "for hire", producing such artists as The Pale Fountains, Cocteau Twins and Paul Haig, before joining the Belgian company, Les Disques du Crepuscule, as a permanent producer and relocating to Brussels.

Rankine eventually came back to Scotland, and he now works in Stow College in Glasgow.