Ryan Laird
Encyclopedia
Ryan Laird is a Canadian singer-songwriter who performs country
.
He received recognition and media attention across The United States and Canada in December 2008 after putting up a billboard on Nashville, Tennessee's famed music row
asking Taylor Swift
to produce his album. Located at Broadway & 17th Ave, the billboard displayed Laird in a classroom holding a note reading “Hey Taylor - I LOVE your music. Will you produce my album?” Intern Adam from Nashville radio station 1075 The River, was also on the billboard firing a spit ball towards Laird from across the classroom.
When asked about Laird and his billboard on E! News Weekend
, Swift said, "I definitely want to meet him ... I listened to one of his songs and absolutely fell in love with it, and I think he's got great melodies and he's a great writer. I think he could really be great and be huge, so it'll be really cool to maybe work with him." Laird said he was blown away and broke down when he saw the interview. "I was just ecstatic, tears came to my eyes," he said.
On March 28/2011, Laird released a music video for his single “I'm Your Man” which charted at #10 on the CMT Cross Canada Countdown on July 30/2011. The “I'm Your Man” radio single peaked at #10 on the BDS Canada Country radio chart in July 2011.
During a CMT Canada
interview, Laird said the inspiration behind the song came from his brother Brett and his brother's girlfriend Shannon. “I'm Your Man” was co-written by Laird with Eric Silver and Jason McCoy
. Eric Silver produced the track.
, Ontario
. Along with his father Laird Schneider and mother Laurie Schneider, he has one younger brother, Brett Schneider, and one younger sister, Kelsi Schneider. He grew up on a 100 acre beef farm just outside of Fergus
, Ontario
, the son of a high school teacher father and a school secretary mother. At age 10, Laird toured England
and Wales
as a member of the Cambridge Kiwanis Boys Choir. Laird would go on to sing with the choir for 3 years, starting as a soprano and leaving as a tenor. At the age of ten, Laird began to perform around his home town, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, and also started writing songs.
and at age 1, he would “hum” the melody back to her. Although Laird's great grandmother was a professional opera
singer, his tastes always ran more toward country
and pop music
. Laird credit's the Dixie Chicks
, Shania Twain
, Keith Urban
and Taylor Swift
for demonstrating how much impact can be made by “stretching boundaries”.
Throughout his early teens, Laird's parents would drive him and his 2 younger siblings around Ontario
to various festival and fair events where the 3 kids would perform in the family band.
At age 18, Laird made his first trip to Nashville
and fell in love with the city. He wrote over 200 songs that year which led to meetings with publishers on music row. Laird went on to sign his first publishing deal with Cherry Lane Music Publishing
.
Over the past few years, Ryan has guest starred on several radio shows to be interviewed by some of the most well known radio personalities. Big D & Bubba
, Blair Garner After Midnite
, and GAC Nights
(featured guest with host Suzanne Alexander) are just a few shows Ryan has made an appearance on.
Ryan has co-wrote many songs with artists such as Nick Carter, Aaron Carter, Alli Sims, Intern Adam (who co-wrote the song "Luv Me" by Ryan Laird), Eric Silver and Jason McCoy
(co-wrote Ryan's BDS Canada Country Chart top 10 single “I'm Your Man”).
Laird's parents put him in classical piano lessons at age 5. A couple years later, he realized that he wanted to be a “rock star” and got his first guitar at age 7. He played the clarinet and alto saxophone in his middle school band. Laird would later transfer to percussion in his high school band. To this day, Laird plays the guitar, piano, drums and harmonica.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
.
He received recognition and media attention across The United States and Canada in December 2008 after putting up a billboard on Nashville, Tennessee's famed music row
Music Row
Music Row is an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville, Tennessee that is home to hundreds of businesses related to the country music, gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music industries...
asking Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
to produce his album. Located at Broadway & 17th Ave, the billboard displayed Laird in a classroom holding a note reading “Hey Taylor - I LOVE your music. Will you produce my album?” Intern Adam from Nashville radio station 1075 The River, was also on the billboard firing a spit ball towards Laird from across the classroom.
When asked about Laird and his billboard on E! News Weekend
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
, Swift said, "I definitely want to meet him ... I listened to one of his songs and absolutely fell in love with it, and I think he's got great melodies and he's a great writer. I think he could really be great and be huge, so it'll be really cool to maybe work with him." Laird said he was blown away and broke down when he saw the interview. "I was just ecstatic, tears came to my eyes," he said.
On March 28/2011, Laird released a music video for his single “I'm Your Man” which charted at #10 on the CMT Cross Canada Countdown on July 30/2011. The “I'm Your Man” radio single peaked at #10 on the BDS Canada Country radio chart in July 2011.
During a CMT Canada
CMT Canada
CMT is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel which airs country music and family-orientated general entertainment programs in the form of music videos, award shows, concerts, sitcoms and more...
interview, Laird said the inspiration behind the song came from his brother Brett and his brother's girlfriend Shannon. “I'm Your Man” was co-written by Laird with Eric Silver and Jason McCoy
Jason McCoy
Jason McCoy is a Canadian singer/songwriter who performs country music.He was born in Barrie, Ontario and was raised for a time in Camrose, Alberta before his family settled in Anten Mills, Ontario.He has won many awards including the 2001 Male Vocalist of the Year at the Canadian Country Music...
. Eric Silver produced the track.
Early Life
Laird was born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Along with his father Laird Schneider and mother Laurie Schneider, he has one younger brother, Brett Schneider, and one younger sister, Kelsi Schneider. He grew up on a 100 acre beef farm just outside of Fergus
Fergus, Ontario
Fergus is the largest community in Centre Wellington, a township within Wellington County in Ontario, Canada. It lies on the Grand River about 25 km north of Guelph.-History:...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, the son of a high school teacher father and a school secretary mother. At age 10, Laird toured England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
as a member of the Cambridge Kiwanis Boys Choir. Laird would go on to sing with the choir for 3 years, starting as a soprano and leaving as a tenor. At the age of ten, Laird began to perform around his home town, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, and also started writing songs.
Early Work
Laird's great grandmother influenced his early singing. She would hold him in her rocking chair singing “Jesus Loves Me”Jesus Loves Me
Jesus Loves Me is a Christian hymn set to words by Anna Bartlett Warner. The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of a novel called Say and Seal, written by Susan Warner and published in 1860. The tune was added in 1862 by William Batchelder Bradbury who found the text of "Jesus Loves Me"...
and at age 1, he would “hum” the melody back to her. Although Laird's great grandmother was a professional opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer, his tastes always ran more toward country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. Laird credit's the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
, Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
, Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
and Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
for demonstrating how much impact can be made by “stretching boundaries”.
Throughout his early teens, Laird's parents would drive him and his 2 younger siblings around Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
to various festival and fair events where the 3 kids would perform in the family band.
At age 18, Laird made his first trip to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and fell in love with the city. He wrote over 200 songs that year which led to meetings with publishers on music row. Laird went on to sign his first publishing deal with Cherry Lane Music Publishing
Cherry Lane Music
Cherry Lane Music was founded in 1960 by Milton Okun in the apartment above the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwich Village of New York City. Cherry Lane Music creates a wide range of high quality sheet music, DVDs and educational tools for practicing musicians....
.
Over the past few years, Ryan has guest starred on several radio shows to be interviewed by some of the most well known radio personalities. Big D & Bubba
Big D and Bubba
The Big D and Bubba Show is a nationally syndicated radio show airing daily on over 50 FM radio stations. The show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks.-Early beginnings and self-syndication:...
, Blair Garner After Midnite
Blair Garner
Blair Garner is an American radio personality. According to his After MidNite with Blair Garner show website, he purchased his first car at age 12. He is the host of the syndicated radio programs After MidNite with Blair Garner and The Blair Garner Show...
, and GAC Nights
Great American Country
Great American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....
(featured guest with host Suzanne Alexander) are just a few shows Ryan has made an appearance on.
Ryan has co-wrote many songs with artists such as Nick Carter, Aaron Carter, Alli Sims, Intern Adam (who co-wrote the song "Luv Me" by Ryan Laird), Eric Silver and Jason McCoy
Jason McCoy
Jason McCoy is a Canadian singer/songwriter who performs country music.He was born in Barrie, Ontario and was raised for a time in Camrose, Alberta before his family settled in Anten Mills, Ontario.He has won many awards including the 2001 Male Vocalist of the Year at the Canadian Country Music...
(co-wrote Ryan's BDS Canada Country Chart top 10 single “I'm Your Man”).
Personal Life
Laird was a member of his middle school and high school basketball and tennis teams. Growing up, he would snow ski in the winters and water ski during the summertime with his family. During middle school, Laird was often teased by his peers. He would later write a song called “Hey Ashley”, about growing up and dealing with a school bully from his past.Laird's parents put him in classical piano lessons at age 5. A couple years later, he realized that he wanted to be a “rock star” and got his first guitar at age 7. He played the clarinet and alto saxophone in his middle school band. Laird would later transfer to percussion in his high school band. To this day, Laird plays the guitar, piano, drums and harmonica.
Singles
| Year | Single |
|---|---|
| 2011 | "I'm Your Man" |
| "She Was the One" |
Music videos
| Year | Single | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | "I'm Your Man" | Margaret Malandruccolo |