An haifi Jerry John Rawlings a Accra ranar 22 ga Yunin 1947, mahaifinsa Bature ne ɗan ƙasar Scotland mahaifiyarsa kuma ƴar Ghana ce.
Bbc taruwaito cewa ya yi makarantar sakandare ta Achimota inda ya yi fice a harkar wasan ƙwallon Polo, sannan ɗalibai ƴan uwansa na bayyana shi a matsayin mai bayyana ra’ayinsa kuma ɗan tawaye.
A shekarar 1968 ya shiga makarantar sojoji ta Teshie a kusa da Accra, daga baya aka tura shi wata makarantar horaswa ta tuƙin jirgin sama.
Ya fara da muƙamin second lieutenant, inda ya samu damar tuƙa jirage kuma ya shiga runduna ta huɗu ta jiragen yaki da ke Accra.
A lokacin da Rawlings ya samu muƙamin zuwa Laftanar na sojin sama a 1978, har ya riga fara harkar siyasa.
Ghana, ƙasa ta farko da ta fara samun ƴancin kai daga Turawan Birtaniya, ta yi fama da matsalar ƙarancin abinci da taɓarɓarewar tattalin arziki.
Rawlings ya nuna fushinsa ga abin da yake gani rashin ɗa’a da cin hanci da rashawa da rashin kyakkyawan tsarin mulkin soja.
Bayan ɗage haramci ga jam’iyyun siyasa a 1979, Rawling ya samu farin jinin jama’a a matsayin babban mai sukar gwamnati, inda yake kira a ƙara taimaka wa talakawa.
Saboda goyon bayan da ya samu, Rawlings ya ƙaddamar da juyin mulki a watan Mayun 1979 wanda bai yi nasara ba kuma aka kama shi aka yanke masa hukuncin kisa.