Ryan has been a performing vocalist/songwriter for over 15 years. As a vocalist Ryan has studied professionally under nationally recognized Speech Level Singing instructor Vanessa Purdy. As a performing musician, Ryan's former band Lightyear was one of 15 national bands selected to be semi finalists in Nokia's "Best Unsigned band" search in the fall of 2002, semi-finalist in Discmaker's 2002 SW region competition, and featured performance artists at the Tempe Fiesta Bowl Block party in 1999, 2001 and 2003.

 

In 2004 Lightyear was selected as a finalist to perform on the Warner Brother's Network television program "Uncovered", eventually winning the title of 2005 "Best Cover band of Arizona" and serving as the 2005 house band for the network. As a songwriter Ryan's music was selected by LA Music Scene.com as a finalist in the national songwriting competition "Acoustic Live Series" eventually landing his band a spec deal with former Lava Atlantic Records producer Rogers Masson. In 2004 Ryan's co-authored song "Hello Goodbye" reached the #2 spot in pop/rock category on Garageband.com a national website with over 30 million registered users.