GLEN ROCK TEEN'S 'IDOL' DREAM ENDS

VIRGINIA ROHANE-mail: rohan@northjersey.com
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
02-27-2011
GLEN ROCK TEEN'S 'IDOL' DREAM ENDS
Byline: VIRGINIA ROHANE-mail: rohan@northjersey.com
Section: BETTER LIVING
Type: News

Ever since word got out in early January that Glen Rock's Alex Ryan had made it to the Top 40 on Season 10 of "American Idol," his fans in North Jersey have been eagerly watching the Fox show, waiting to see him sing his heart out.

This past Wednesday, 18-year-old Ryan finally appeared on camera - - not just as a kid with a punkish upswept 'do in a group shot, but fully identified by name and town -- as he was being told by the judges he would not move on to the Top 24.
"I was not shown performing once," Ryan confirms, on the phone Thursday.

Did he ask anyone why?

"Well, I wouldn't really know who to ask," he says. "But at this point, people saw my face, and regardless of how much I was shown, I definitely experienced it. Nothing could take that away."

As Ryan well knows, too, making the top 40 -- out of 125,000 who auditioned -- is itself a great prize.

"When they showed me hugging everybody after I'd been cut, you didn't hear what they were saying to me," he says, paraphrasing fellow contestant Jordan Dorsey. "He said to me, 'You're a star. You did this. And it's something that you can't let go of.' I'm always going to be able to say that."

His journey began in August when Ryan, then 17, auditioned in the Meadowlands, singing "Animal" by Neon Trees. He then flew to California in December for Hollywood Week and Las Vegas rounds, and returned to L.A. by himself in January -- all the while having to keep his big news secret. "It was tough having to go back there and not be able to tell anybody why," Ryan says. "But people kind of figured after awhile, because the websites say all this stuff."

A Jersey boy all his life -- "I was born in Hoboken, which I like to say, 'cause Frank Sinatra was born there, but I moved [to Glen Rock] before I was even 2," he says -- Ryan started in music "very young" with piano lessons.

"I've obviously had a lot of support, but since about seventh grade, my drive has really been what pushed me," says Ryan, who studies with vocal coach Mark Wilson at the Ridgewood Conservatory and has performed in coffeehouses and on many stages.

"But you're never fully prepared for that stage," Ryan says of the "Idol" performances. One of the most challenging was during Hollywood Week group rounds where the sleep-deprived, vocally stressed contestants had to select from a limited number of songs to perform. His group's was "Grenade" (Bruno Mars), which "was tough, because I hadn't heard the song before," he says.

For the record, the other songs we did not get to see Ryan perform are: "Bulletproof" (La Roux); "Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry); "We Can Work It Out" (The Beatles); "I Don't Want to Be" (Gavin DeGraw) and "My Life Would Suck Without You" (Kelly Clarkson).

"I got a lot of chances to perform, which was really good," says Ryan, who also made some good friends. "You watch the show and they kind of tend to highlight people's stress and people getting angry at each other. ... But people are so, so supportive."

The Glen Rock High School senior plans to study music in college and has applied to Berklee College of Music in Boston and Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Although he had to take down videos of himself singing while he was on the show, Ryan is now in the process of rebuilding his "Internet presence," so we'll finally be able to see him perform. (You can also find online an audition video for "Glee" he did awhile back.)

Throughout "Idol," he followed a lesson from his dad: "Be a good person first and a great performer second," Ryan says. "That has been what has guided me throughout this whole thing."

2011