Bianca Ryan (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Bianca Taylor Ryan (born September 1, 1994) is an American singer and guitarist from Philadelphia. She is known for being the first winner of NBC's America's Got Talent (2006) at the age of eleven.

Early life

Bianca is the second of five children of Shawn and Janette Ryan. Her father, a fan of the Rolling Stones, named her after Mick Jagger's ex-wife. Bianca has an older brother, Shawn, and three younger siblings, Isabella, Jagger & Evangelinga. Bianca comes from a diverse ethnic family: Irish, German, and Italian ancestry from her father's side and her maternal grandmother is Japanese.

America's Got Talent

While searching the Internet for auditions early in 2006, Ryan discovered that Idol judge Simon Cowell was serving as executive producer for an upcoming competition titled America's Got Talent. For her audition appearance, she chose the Dreamgirls showtune "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (originally performed by Jennifer Holliday), surprising the audience and the judges with her powerful voice. Simon Cowell was so moved after seeing her performance that he announced during a press conference that, "Bianca Ryan is potentially one of the best singers I have ever heard in my life."

By March 2006, a copy of Ryan's audition had climbed into the 100 "Top Rated (All Time) in Music" videos at YouTube.

For the semi-finals of the show Bianca performed "Piece of My Heart", made famous by Janis Joplin. Although the judges loved the performance they did not think the song was right for Ryan. America's Got Talent's finale results aired on August 17, 2006, during which Ryan was announced as the winner of the first season of the show.

Ryan made a brief appearance during the show's season two finale. In a video recorded during the Nextfest tour, she wished "the best of luck" to the top two finalists.

Career

Commercial success and visibility

On August 24, 2006, Ryan announced on her website that she had flown to New York to meet with representatives from a "major record label" and some of the recording industry's top songwriters. The Northeast Times reported that same day that Ryan met with Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster and was being managed by Peter Rudge.

On September 18, 2006, Ryan signed a five-album record deal with SYCOmusic as part of Columbia Records. Ryan is the first U.S. artist to sign with SYCOmusic.

The following month, Ryan was in Los Angeles to record her first CD, featuring cover versions of "The Rose" and "I Believe I Can Fly" and original songs like "I Wish That" and "Pray for a Better Day".

Solo album

Ryan's eponymous first album was recorded just after her 12th birthday and released on November 14, 2006; Bianca Ryan broke into the Billboard 200 at No. 57. One month later, the EP Christmas Everyday! was released as a promotional giveaway.

She has since performed in such countries as Australia and Switzerland. Her first concert tour took her across the United States as the "special guest" artist for Live Nation's Nextfest. Bianca Ryan was released on November 14, 2006; eight days later, the album broke in at No. 57 on the Billboard album charts, showcasing "her gargantuan chops and sweet charm," wrote Matt Collar of Allmusic. Though he called the arrangements "somewhat over-the-top pop creations" and "grandiose given Ryan's age, her musical aspirations are more than matched by her truly impressive vocal talent". Los Angeles Daily News reviewer Sandra Barrera said that Bianca handled the songs "like the old pro that her big, powerful voice makes you think she is".

The following year, she released the single "That's Not Me" on August 7, 2007. In 2008, she left SYCO/Columbia Records and released her second holiday EP, True Meaning of Christmas on November 3, 2009 on the indie Music Forever label. Ryan, 15 at the time, whose voice has been hailed as "extraordinary and mature" by Grammy-winning record producer David Foster, chose a mix of classics and original songs for this holiday collection. Selections include a pop version of "The Christmas Song", a soulful arrangement of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and an intimate version of "When Christmas Comes to Town" (Polar Express). The EP also features two original songs written with album producer Anthony Marinelli; the first song, True Meaning of Christmas, also co-written with Siedah Garrett (Man in the Mirror) is a stirring duet with pop gospel sensation Brent Jones. The second song, If You Believe, will surely become a holiday classic. To complement the release of her holiday EP, Ryan hosted her second Christmas special, airing on Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) from Thanksgiving through the New Year.

2010"present

In 2010, Ryan recorded a song inspired by Twilight: New Moon called "In My Head." The single was released digitally on August 21, 2010 through the indie label, Tuned In Music and Media. Followed by a Summer Long Tour at the Atlantic City Trump Plaza.

Bianca Ryan is currently in the studio recording original music.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Peak chart positions							Certifications (sales threshold)
		US	US Holiday	AU	DU	IR	SW	GE
2006	Bianca Ryan Released: November 14, 2006 Label: SYCO/Columbia	57	—	46	52	1	28	45	US Sales: 105,000 Worldwide sales: 200,000+

EPs

Year	Album	Peak chart positions							Certifications (sales threshold)
		US	US Holiday	AU	DU	IR	SW	GE
2007	Christmas Everyday! Released: December 5, 2007 Label: SYCO/Columbia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	US Sales: n/a
2009	The True Meaning of Christmas Released: November 3, 2009 Label: Music Forever	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	US Sales: n/a
"—" denotes the album did not chart.

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions		Album
		Dutch Top 40 Chart	Dutch Radio + Records
2006	"You Light Up My Life"	—	—	Bianca Ryan
	"Why Couldn't It Be Christmas Every Day?"	15	1	Christmas Everyday!
2007	"That's Not Me"	—	—	N/A
2010	"In My Head"	—	—	N/A

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	12 and Holding	Singing Girl	Released May 19, 2005

Music video

Year	Title	Notes
2006	You Light Up My Life	Released: 2006
2009	About to Fall " The Wrecking	Released: September 8, 2010

Television

• 2001: Showtime at the Apollo
• 2002: The Tom Joyner Show
• 2003: Star Search
• 2006: America's Got Talent (6 appearances)
• 2006: The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2 appearances)
• 2006: The CW Morning Show
• 2006: Today
• 2006: The Oprah Winfrey Show
• 2006: Martha
• 2006: Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade
• 2007: 49th Pepsi 400 (from Daytona International Speedway)

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