Bianca’s blast

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Bianca Ryan felt well-disguised on Halloween.
The Mayfair resident sat on her porch steps in her fairy costume and glittery black makeup, dutifully doling out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Things went pretty smoothly until a girl approached her and gasped:
"Are you the girl from America’s Got Talent?"
A nod from Bianca was all it took to send the girl running and squealing — sans her treats.
"I was like, ‘No candy?’" Bianca said during an interview with the Times last week.
The 12-year-old’s life has assumed the fantasy of a perpetual holiday since Aug. 17, when she won the $1 million grand prize on the first season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. And the young starlet still can’t believe it happened to her.
"My heart was pounding," Bianca recalled of the show finale.
Her subsequent journeys to Los Angeles and New York City to meet with record producers, along with nationwide radio and promotional tours in between, will culminate with the release of a self-titled CD on Tuesday.
Bianca Ryan is part of a five-record deal signed with SYCOmusic, run by Talent executive producer Simon Cowell as part of Columbia Records (SONY BMG). Bianca is the first American artist to sign with Cowell’s imprint.
"I’m scared. I want a lot of people to buy it," Bianca admitted while sitting on her living-room couch last week.
Her recent five-day stay is the longest she’s spent at home in the Northeast since her big TV moment in August.
It took only five weeks — which required nine hours of studio time each day — to record the album. It features covers of Bette Midler’s The Rose, R. Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly and And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going, which Bianca sang during her initial appearance on Talent.
Bianca also recorded Why Can’t It Be Christmas Every Day?, a song written just for her by Jay Landers and Walter Afanasieff. The latter co-wrote Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You.
SYCO’s marketing folks wanted to target Bianca’s adult viewers from Talent for her first CD, according to her dad, Shawn. Cowell called the youngster — who, dad confirmed, has received her million-dollar check from the TV show — "potentially one of the best singers I have ever heard in my life."
"They didn’t want to alienate the people who voted for her," Shawn Ryan said of the marketing strategy.
During album production, Bianca upheld a rigorous schedule of learning and recording her songs and keeping up with schoolwork. Her close friend, Jaime Curry, accompanied her as an assistant for some of the experience.
"It’s a lot of work," Shawn Ryan said of his daughter’s commitments. "(But) she’s never once gotten sick of this."
Mom Janette chalks it up to youth.
"She’s more resilient, and she’s a kid," she said.
Still, dad makes sure Bianca gets her rest. She has avoided falling behind in class because her teachers at the School Lane Charter School in Bensalem give her work ahead of time.
She’s kept in touch with friends via the Internet, particularly by using her new Web cameras, gifts from talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres. Bianca makes her second appearance on DeGeneres’ show the week her album debuts. On Monday, Mayor John Street will honor Bianca with a Liberty Bell award and city proclamation.
Letters and e-mails steadily pour in to the sixth-grader from children and adults worldwide. Major fan bases have emerged in both Japan and Germany, where Bianca will perform in December.
"It’s two degrees of separation from David Hasselhoff," Shawn Ryan joked about the German-born actor and former singer who was one of the judges on Talent.
Bianca is stoked to take her first journey overseas.
"I like to travel. I’m really excited to go to Germany," she said.
She has continued performing for sports teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Knicks. Other scheduled appearances include Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.
Thrilled by making the album and performing, Bianca is also psyched about normal pre-teen stuff, like her elevated school status as a sixth-grader.
"I’m excited — it’s the first year we can go to dances. I’m one of the older kids now," she explained.
Bianca Ryan has grown taller, taken an interest in makeup and begun carving out a clothing style all her own, which includes a mix of edgy fashions and girly get-ups.
Shawn Ryan’s one major rule while his daughter becomes a teenager?
"No dating until she’s eighteen," he said.
Having also grown over the past three months, her father makes no apologies about putting his foot down when it comes to industry demands on his daughter.
"I know more than I thought I knew," he said.
Thus far, Bianca hasn’t asked for any of her Talent money, which amounted to about $750,000 after taxes. When the Times interviewed her days after her win, Bianca pledged generosity to family — which includes siblings Shawn, 14, Isabella, 7, and Jagger, 3, — friends and her church.
As the whirlwind rise to stardom continues, Bianca plans to keep giving her all.
"I just go along with it," she said. "I try my best." ••
Bianca will perform at the Q102 Jingle Ball with Nelly Furtado, Nick Lachey, Rhianna and other artists at the Tweeter Center on the Camden waterfront on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com
To stay up to date on Bianca’s performance schedule, visit www.biancaryan.com
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com