Ross Ryan

 ( 1950 Births ) 

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-Sets 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. 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). 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. APRAPs Debbie Kruger interviewed Ryan in 2002 and he explained how he had merged two songs to form "I Am Pegasus":

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.

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. 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.

In September 1974, Ryan accompanied Rolf Harris (along with country singer Judy Stone and digeridoo player David Blanasi) to perform at Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington.

In 1990, Ryan co-wrote a revue, Les Boys (A Masculine Sensation), with comedians Rod Quantock, Lynda Gibson and Geoff Brooks. In the early 1990s Ryan and Broc O'Connor established a studio, G.I. Recorders, where Ryan was a record producer for acts in a range of music styles including blues with Spectrum, country with Paul Wookey, traditional Irish with The Wren Boys. In 1998 he produced Dale Juner's album, Only Burning Me, which won Victorian Country Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year for Juner. In 1990 EMI, through its budget label, EMI released another compilation album, The Greats of Ross 1973–1990, which also included previously unreleased material.