John Ryan (songwriter)

John Henry Ryan II (born August 19, 1987), also known as John the Blind is an American Grammy Award–winning songwriter, record producer, music publishing executive, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his work across pop, country, and alternative music, with a catalog exceeding 30 billion global streams and over 30 million records sold.

Ryan has been a key creative contributor to major releases by artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swims, One Direction, Thomas Rhett, Niall Horan, Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, John Legend, Rudimental, and others.

Early life

Ryan is from Pittsford, New York. He grew up the youngest in his family with his mother, older brother Joe, and older sister Julie. Ryan wrote his first song in third grade, learning to play guitar and piano at a young age. He continued to write throughout his childhood, even making an album in eighth grade that he was selling out of his locker. By the time he was 16 or 17, he remembers having to choose between music and sports and states that "music came the most naturally and made [him] the happiest." He sent his only college application to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. During his time at Berklee, Ryan learned music theory, fronted two bands, and continued to write his own material.

During his junior year, Ryan visited a few friends in Los Angeles, and met Damon Bunetta, who later became his manager, at a party. They exchanged numbers, ideas, and kept in contact. At the time, Damon, his brother Julian Bunetta, and their father Peter Bunetta were expanding their company, Family Affair Productions, and were looking to add another producer/artist/writer to the team. After graduating from Berklee in 2010, Ryan moved to Los Angeles to begin his career as an artist and producer.

Career

Ryan achieved his commercial breakthrough with One Direction, whom he met and began writing with in 2012. Their 2013 single “Story of My Life” became a global Top 10 hit. He went on to co-write and co-produce 27 songs across four of the band’s albums: Take Me Home, Midnight Memories, Four, and Made in the A.M'.

Notable One Direction credits include “Night Changes,” “Story of My Life,” “Steal My Girl,” “Perfect,” and “Drag Me Down.”

In recent years, Ryan has been a primary songwriter and producer for the last three Sabrina Carpenter albums, including Emails I Can’t Send, Short n’ Sweet, and Man’s Best Friend. Songs such as “Feather,” “Taste,” “Bed Chem,” and “Tears” reached No. 1. In 2024, Ryan won a Grammy Award for his work on Short n’ Sweet.

Teddy Swims is also a close friend and frequent collaborator. Swims’s singles “Bad Dreams” and “The Door” both reached No. 1, which Ryan co-wrote and co-produced.

Ryan has also collaborated with Olivia Dean, co-writing her breakout single “So Easy (To Fall In Love),” and wrote the hit song “Gabriela” for global pop group KATSEYE.

In addition to his songwriting and production career, Ryan records and performs under the moniker John the Blind, a solo artist project formerly signed to Atlantic Records. The name references John of Bohemia, a medieval king who continued to lead his army despite being blind.