Biography
A vocalist, composer, and studio craftsman whose yearning material carries a polished R&B sheen, Ryan Beatty frequently cloaks his songs in glossy, dreamlike textures and layered vocal harmonies. Posting footage of cover performances while still a young teenager in 2009, he amassed more than a million channel subscribers before unveiling his debut original track, “Every Little Thing,” in 2011. His independently issued first EP, the teen-pop-focused Because of You from 2012, climbed into the upper half of the Billboard 200. A second EP appeared in 2013, after which he resurfaced in 2018 with the more refined and atmospheric Boy in Jeans; the album was soon followed by joint work alongside Tyler, The Creator and Benny Blanco, plus a continuing role supporting BROCKHAMPTON. He has since pursued this unconventional sonic path, preserving an intimate core while expanding into broader palettes that incorporate strings on the 2023 release Calico.
Born in Clovis, California, on September 25, 1995, as the fifth of six siblings, Beatty cultivated an early fascination with music—particularly Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and John Mayer—and began filming and uploading renditions of favorite songs to his sister’s YouTube channel in 2009 after discovering his vocal ability. The clips quickly drew substantial traffic, prompting him to launch his own channel in February 2011; within months the platform’s viewership reached two million. His original digital single “Every Little Thing” gained traction on pop sales rankings that year, and the summer of 2012 brought the Because of You EP, which peaked at number 94 on the U.S. album chart. (Justin Bieber’s subsequent cover of “Every Little Thing” underscored the rapid ascent.) Lead single “Hey L.A.” moved briskly and received added visibility through its placement in a corporate safety campaign discouraging texting while driving.
Live performances in major U.S. and Asian cities began in 2012, followed by opening slots on Cody Simpson’s 2013 American tour. The late-2013 follow-up EP Ryan Beatty reached number 11 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart. Beatty mounted his own headline tour and appeared at Lollapalooza and the Common Ground Music Festival in 2014, then rejoined Simpson for European dates in 2015. After a three-year recording silence he returned with the 2016 single “Passion,” and the following year his backing vocals appeared on BROCKHAMPTON’s SATURATION II and SATURATION III. The soul-tinged “Bruise” and “Camo” arrived in May and June 2018; shortly afterward he contributed harmonies—alongside Jazmine Sullivan and serpentwithfeet—to BROCKHAMPTON’s “Tonya” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, then self-released Boy in Jeans that July. Its mature songwriting and alt-R&B production secured a deal with Benny Blanco’s Mad Love Records. In 2019 Beatty supplied backup for Kevin Abstract, became a frequent BROCKHAMPTON collaborator, and joined Solange and Anthony Evans on Tyler, The Creator’s “I Think” from the Grammy-winning IGOR. His second solo album, Dreaming of David, emerged on Mad Love/Interscope in January 2020 with contributions from Blanco, Austin Anderson and Daniel Fox of Slow Hollows, and Happy Perez; a subsequent hiatus included a withdrawal from social media.
March 2023 marked his return via a new website and the single “Ribbons,” his first solo output in over three years. The third studio album, Calico, arrived the next month on Warner/Atlantic/Elektra, its expansive, string-enriched arrangements co-produced by Beatty and Ethan Gruska.
Born in Clovis, California, on September 25, 1995, as the fifth of six siblings, Beatty cultivated an early fascination with music—particularly Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and John Mayer—and began filming and uploading renditions of favorite songs to his sister’s YouTube channel in 2009 after discovering his vocal ability. The clips quickly drew substantial traffic, prompting him to launch his own channel in February 2011; within months the platform’s viewership reached two million. His original digital single “Every Little Thing” gained traction on pop sales rankings that year, and the summer of 2012 brought the Because of You EP, which peaked at number 94 on the U.S. album chart. (Justin Bieber’s subsequent cover of “Every Little Thing” underscored the rapid ascent.) Lead single “Hey L.A.” moved briskly and received added visibility through its placement in a corporate safety campaign discouraging texting while driving.
Live performances in major U.S. and Asian cities began in 2012, followed by opening slots on Cody Simpson’s 2013 American tour. The late-2013 follow-up EP Ryan Beatty reached number 11 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart. Beatty mounted his own headline tour and appeared at Lollapalooza and the Common Ground Music Festival in 2014, then rejoined Simpson for European dates in 2015. After a three-year recording silence he returned with the 2016 single “Passion,” and the following year his backing vocals appeared on BROCKHAMPTON’s SATURATION II and SATURATION III. The soul-tinged “Bruise” and “Camo” arrived in May and June 2018; shortly afterward he contributed harmonies—alongside Jazmine Sullivan and serpentwithfeet—to BROCKHAMPTON’s “Tonya” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, then self-released Boy in Jeans that July. Its mature songwriting and alt-R&B production secured a deal with Benny Blanco’s Mad Love Records. In 2019 Beatty supplied backup for Kevin Abstract, became a frequent BROCKHAMPTON collaborator, and joined Solange and Anthony Evans on Tyler, The Creator’s “I Think” from the Grammy-winning IGOR. His second solo album, Dreaming of David, emerged on Mad Love/Interscope in January 2020 with contributions from Blanco, Austin Anderson and Daniel Fox of Slow Hollows, and Happy Perez; a subsequent hiatus included a withdrawal from social media.
March 2023 marked his return via a new website and the single “Ribbons,” his first solo output in over three years. The third studio album, Calico, arrived the next month on Warner/Atlantic/Elektra, its expansive, string-enriched arrangements co-produced by Beatty and Ethan Gruska.
Albums
Singles
Live
