Bianca hits the high
notes for the Eagles

By Jeannie O’Sullivan
Times Staff Writer

Music is a theme for a certain Mayfair family.
An ardent fan of classic rock, Shawn Ryan decided to name his youngest son, who is now 2, Jagger. And Jade is the middle name of his 6-year-old daughter, Isabella, in honor of the daughter of the aforementioned music legend, Mick Jagger.
If wife Janette — whose mother, by the way, is named Yoko — hadn’t intervened, Ryan would have followed in the footsteps of rocker Eddie Van Halen and named their 13-year-old son Shawn "Wolfgang."
The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Van Halen don’t mean much to the second-oldest Ryan child, 10-year-old Bianca, even though she shares her name with Mick Jagger’s ex-wife.
Bianca Ryan — a singer who has appeared on Star Search, Showtime at the Apollo and the NBC-10 local morning show 10!, to name a few outlets — is nonetheless inspired by music and loves the contemporary hits of Evanescence, Kelly Clarkson and Jessica Simpson.
A well-rounded youngster, Bianca also is a loyal fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Last week, Bianca experienced nirvana — the concept, not the band — when her passion for sports and singing came together. She belted out the national anthem in front of 65,000 fans at the Eagles-Bengals preseason game at Lincoln Financial Field, a feat that might give even the most polished performer a case of the jitters.
"It’s just natural," Bianca says, shrugging. "I become a new person, and I sing my heart out."
"It’s in her blood," Janette insists.
Shawn, who has dabbled in guitar-playing and now has a music-editing business, beams at the idea of his daughter channeling the ol’ Ryan rhythm. With a mixture of puzzlement and delight, he marvels at her confident, assured nature.
"Someday," he swears, "it’s gonna sink in, and she’ll realize how incredible it is."
By most counts, Bianca looks and acts like the average preteen.
She skateboards, rides her bike, and, on one particular late August afternoon in her living room, groans at the thought of a new school year. Already envisioning winter break, she has started her Christmas list with a request for a laptop computer.
Looks come in handy for show-business success, and Bianca has wavy auburn hair and exotic almond eyes that reveal the Japanese fraction of her mostly Irish heritage. Her voice, however, is what makes jaws drop and casting directors — one, at least, according to her father — burst into tears.
When the Northeast Times last checked in with Bianca in spring 2004, the young siren was reeling from her appearance on Star Search. She didn’t win, but the loss was narrow, said Janette, who remembers the heyday of the televised talent show and the clout surrounding it.
"You don’t usually even make it on Star Search, let alone win," she had told her daughter, driving the point home. "I mean, it just doesn’t happen.
"But Bianca made it her dream," Janette continued.
The precocious, enterprising spirit showed itself when Bianca was just 3 and asked to take dance lessons. By age 5, she had a singing coach.
She scoured the Internet for opportunities and eventually performed in local playhouses, appeared in catalogs for dance clothing and competed in a slew of modeling competitions.
The Ryans learned to work the ropes in show biz, and their treks to auditions and casting calls throughout the Delaware Valley and New York City paid off. Her Star Search performance kick-started a chain of breaks that included Jersey Shore appearances at the Resorts casino and the Cape May Film Festival. The Ryan family also found themselves vacationing in Disney World, courtesy of Bianca’s first-place win last year in the Kidz Idol contest sponsored by radio station WOGL, Oldies 98.1.
Showtime at the Apollo producers caught wind of Bianca and invited her to meet with them last summer. When the family showed up for what they thought was an audition, the producers began prepping her to perform on that evening’s Amateur Night at the Apollo.
She aced two Amateur Night competitions, which led to an appearance at a Battery Park Festival in New York City and a televised appearance on Showtime at the Apollo last March.
Her first segue into sporting events had come in August 2003, when she was selected to perform the national anthem at the U.S. Tennis Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Since then, Bianca’s voice has opened games for the Philadelphia Growl (a professional in-line hockey team), St. John’s University basketball and the New York Liberty, a pro women’s basketball team in the WNBA.
Then came the New York Knicks.
While her poised stage presence strikes audience members and directors alike, even a dynamo like Bianca can lose her composure.
Hey, you try to stay calm when former 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey leaps from his chair in Madison Square Garden, looks you square in the eye and starts wildly clapping, hooting and hollering.
Audience applause is the deciding factor in the choice of half-time show performers for Knicks games. Because the basketball team is popular with Hollywood’s jet set, it’s not uncommon to see Paris Hilton, Ja Rule and, yes, Nick Lachey, joining the judges.
During a recent audition at Madison Square Garden, Bianca saw all of these celebrities and indeed received special attention from Mr. Lachey. Beating out 400 hopefuls, she won the competition.
"It was the best," she remembers with a grin.
From his seat in the audience, Ryan had witnessed his daughter’s shock. Eyes wide, he pretends to hold a microphone and leaps up and down in his living room, gasping, while Bianca giggles at this affectionate imitation.
Between the spring Knicks game and last Friday’s Eagles preseason game, Bianca’s appearances included a segment of the local NBC-10 show 10!. On Sept. 10, she’ll reunite with WOGL host Frank Lewis as a special guest at the Shore Idol singing competition at the Atlantic City Hilton Casino.
Meanwhile, the big and small screens have replaced the stage for a few projects. Bianca, who has appeared in commercials for the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant chain and the Philadelphia Zoo, has a part in 12 and Holding, a feature film planned for a fall release.
As proof that talent is a Ryan trait, Isabella Jade appears alongside Bianca in this year’s zoo commercial, and young Shawn, an aspiring magician, has snagged a part in an upcoming independent film, Wrestling.
While opportunities certainly abound for the Ryans, their responsible parents strive for a balance between optimism and caution.
"Plan B is that there is no Plan B," Bianca once told her father.
In a moment of retrospect, she relents. But not much.
"Well," she says. "Maybe I’d be a model." ••
Reporter Jeannie O’Sullivan can be reached at 215-354-3038 or osullivanj@phillynews.com