Hi Folks,
It’s Ryan here. I hope you all are well and in good spirits. I’m writing to inform you of a new direction I will be taking in the coming year. As you all know over the past few years, I have been working hard to further my career and to establish myself in the North American music industry. As my writing and performing is ever evolving and maturing, I am excited to let you all know that I have been working on a new image and musical direction. I’ve just recently returned from Nashville, where I participated in several creative co-writing sessions, which have resulted in some new songs that I am quite enthusiastic about. This experience is a part of the evolution of ‘Ryan Laird’. I am sincerely hoping that you will all appreciate and get behind this ‘new country’, ‘Keith Urban’; style of music that I am very excited and passionate about creating. I have always enjoyed writing and performing a wide variety of musical styles, but now want to concentrate on this new direction. I am very thankful for all of your support throughout the years and sincerely hope you will all continue to help me along the way. The new ‘Ryan Laird’ website, including fresh pictures, promotional material and songs should be available within the next few months. I plan to begin recording these songs as soon as possible and hope to complete a new, full-length CD, for release in 2006. I’m proud to be using my middle name, as well as my father’s name, for this project.
Mix 99.9 FM Songwriting Contest (2005)
On January 15th, the ‘Top 10′ finalists were announced for the 15th Annual Mix 99.9 FM Songwriting Contest. The contest saw over 3000 entries, with Ryan’s song “Don’t Fool Yourself” finishing in 9th place overall. Congratulations to all of the finalists!
Songs Revealed (2004)
Ryan won 1st place overall for the 2004 “Songs Revealed” songwriting competition. He traveled to Durham College in Oshawa on Wednesday, March 24th to perform and compete against 10 other songwriters for the Grand Prize. Some of his winnings included $1000 Studio Time @ Studio Solstice, some Long & McQuade gift certificates and some Hewlett Packard computer accessories. Congratulations to all the performers who made it to the final round!
Havelock Jamboree Showcase Winner (2003)
The Ryan Schneider Band took home first place at the Havelock showcase auditions. Their winnings included 2003 and 2004 back-to-back performances at the Jamboree, for more than 500 000 people throughout the week, as well as a live music video of their show.
Skills Ontario Award Winner (2003)
Ryan took part in the 2003 Skills Canada youth special skills competition. While entered in the “Job Skills” category, he did a presentation on ‘how to run a successful music career’, which earned him a bronze medal for the Ontario wide competition.
EDGE Magazine Songwriting Competition Winner (2002)
Ryan’s song, “Why Do I Feel Lucky”, was chosen as the Ontario winner and was included on a nationally distributed CD, containing one song per province of Canada. Over 800 Canadian radio and television stations received the CD for airplay. Special thanks to the CBC for playing Ryan’s song.
Mariposa Folk Festival Showcase Winner (2002)
As a showcase winner, Ryan and the band performed as a side stage act at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia in 2002. After rave reviews after their performance though that weekend, they were invited back to the festival in 2003, but as a main stage act.
YTV Youth Achievement Award Semi-Finalist (1998)
At age 14, Ryan released his first solo effort CD, entitled, “Hear I Am”. It earned him a semi-finalist spot in the YTV Youth Achievement Awards, the same year of it’s release. The competition was designed to showcase the talents of young people.
Ryan has just come to an artist management agreement with Oakville’s Big Wig Productions. Warren “Wiggy” Toll will be taking over managerial duties on behalf of Ryan. Ryan would like to welcome “Wiggy” to the team and is looking forward to creating a successful partnership. For bookings or further information, please contact Warren Toll at (905) 337-1766 or via email at bigwig@istar.ca