Ross Ryan

Ross Edwin Ryan (born 13 December 1950) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and producer.

Ross Ryan was born on 13 December 1950, in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The family moved to Mount Manypeaks near Albany, Western Australia in 1959 where they settled on a sheep farm of 3000 acre.

By the age of 13 years he was writing songs and learning guitar.

Ryan attended Albany High, where he took the lead in The Music Man; and he produced a radio program, High School Half Hour, for the local station 6VA.

He joined a number of local bands including The Sett and Saffron.

Ryan moved to Perth, undertook an electronics course and worked as an audio operator at a TV station, STW 9.

He started his musical career in 1968.

From mid-1970 to late 1971 Ryan used the station's facilities to record his debut album, Home Movies, which was self-funded on the RR label.

The local Perth radio station 6PM played tracks from his album.

During the mid-to-late 1970s, Ryan was a guest on various TV shows, including The Paul Hogan Show and Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Early in 1972 Ross Ryan issued a split single with his track, "Sounds of Peppermint", backed by The Statesmen's "Keep on Truckin'".

In April it reached the Top 100 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart.

Ryan signed with a manager, Al Maricic, and started regular gigs at Gramps Wine Bar and played at university campuses.

In September that year Ryan supported Roy Orbison for the Perth concert on his Australian tour.

Ryan got his break when Maricic heard that the proposed support act, comedian Joe Martin, had pulled out in Darwin.

After the Perth gig Orbison's promoter booked Ryan for the remainder of the tour.

His signature tune, "I Am Pegasus", was released in September 1973, which peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Singles.

Ryan signed with EMI Records and commenced his next album, A Poem You Can Keep, with Peter Dawkins producing, which was released in March 1973.

By that time Ryan had moved to Sydney.

The album was arranged by Peter Martin and engineered by Martin Benge; and was issued on Capitol Records in the United States.

In July its lead single, "I Don't Want to Know About It", reached the Top 40 on Go-Set's Singles Chart.

Ryan won Record of the Year and Best New Talent at the Australian Record Federation Awards for 1973.

At the end of that year he toured the US playing the club circuit.

He has supported tours by international acts, The Hollies (May 1973), Helen Reddy (November 1973), Roberta Flack (1977), Michael Franks, Roger Miller and Dr. Hook (1977).

In September 1973 a new single, "I Am Pegasus", was released and became his highest-charting hit, which reached No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report chart.

Over that time, the single reached No. 1 in almost every state capital, but not at the same time.

Its parent album, My Name Means Horse, was released in February 1974, which reached No. 3 on the Australian Album chart.

In Australia Ryan has performed on campus tours, at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with the Hector Crawford Orchestra, at the Sydney Opera House and at the Sunbury Pop Festival (January 1974).

The parent album, My Name Means Horse, was released in February 1974, it is Ryan's most successful album, which reached No. 3 on the Australian Albums chart and was certified triple gold.

At the 1974 TV Week King of Pop Awards, My Name Means Horse won Most Popular Australian Album.

Then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, presented Ryan's first gold records for the album My Name Means Horse and the single "I am Pegasus".

Ryan represented Australia at Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington, with Judy Stone and Rolf Harris.

He hosted his own pop TV program, Rock Show, and continued to release albums including After the Applause (June 1975) and Smiling for the Camera (April 1977).

Singles from After the Applause, were "Blue Chevrolet Ballerina", released in March 1975, which reached the Top 40 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart, and "Sedel (Never Smiled at Me)" (August) which did not chart.

Smiling for the Camera provided "Happy Birthday to Me" (August 1976), which did not chart.

Ryan left EMI and at the end of 1977, they released a compilation album, I Thought This Might Happen 1973 – 77.

The following year, Ryan, with Mike Meade (co-host of Flashez), hosted, wrote and acted in a half-hour comedy TV show, Give 'Em Heaps, on Australian Broadcasting Corporation for twenty episodes.

APRAP's Debbie Kruger interviewed Ryan in 2002 and he explained how he had merged two songs to form "I Am Pegasus":

"One was about the fact that I had just discovered that Ross means horse; I’d looked it up in a baby book, and I thought that was really funny ... also at the time I was having a really disastrous attempt at a relationship with an air hostess. It didn't work out, so I was writing a song about that ... I was writing two songs and getting nowhere with them, so I combined them and got a flying horse. And I came up with Pegasus ... I looked up all the things that rhymed with Pegasus and I got Dimitrius and Sagittarius. And of course the Sagittarian's the half-man half-horse."