ABOUT

Over the past twenty years, drummer/percussionist Ryan Vaughn has become a fixture in the independent music scene. Ryan has performed with some of the best independent singer/songwriters; including Caleb Hawley, Chrissi Poland, Zach Hurd (Bay Ledges), Sonya Kitchell, Elizabeth & the Catapult, Wakey! Wakey!, Ian Axel (A Great Big World), Rachel Platten, Lucius, Emily Kinney, Charlotte Sometimes, etc.

Ryan has also performed with numerous well-known recording artists such as John Forté, Anna Nalick, Aloe Blacc, Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), Joshua Radin, Ryan Cabrera, Tony Lucca, Jeffrey Gaines, Teddy Geiger, Tyler Hilton, Natasha Bedingfield, Rita Wilson, Hugh Jackman, Bebe Rexha, Lizzy Grant (Lana Del Rey), Ben Taylor, and Carly Simon. Ryan has performed on television for Late Night with Conan O’Brien with Joshua Radin, Comcast’s Backstage with Nick Howard (2012 winner of The Voice in Germany), and he is featured in John Forté’s groundbreaking documentary entitled The Russian Winter, which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in the Spring of 2012.

In 2013, Ryan was the bandleader of the house band for Katie Couric’s daytime talk show, Katie. In 2016, Ryan worked on the development for Fox 20th Century’s hit movie, The Greatest Showman, for which he received a credit on the multi-award-winning original motion picture soundtrack. Vaughn has also worked on numerous other shows, including The Masked Singer, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart.

In addition to performing and recording, Ryan has always had a knack for the business of music. In 2014, Ryan took a position as head of A&R for the new music company, Fieldhouse Music (BMG). In 2016, Vaughn was hired as the Business Development Manager at Marshall Arts U.S. (AEG). In 2017, Ryan founded his own artist management company called Backline Creative. Backline Creative specializes in independent artist management. Additionally, with the help of his wife and business partner, Jessica Vaughn, Ryan also helped launch the custom music and digital distribution company, Head Bitch Music, in 2019. 

While Ryan was born in the Inland Empire (Upland, CA), he grew up in the mountains of Northern Arizona (Prescott, AZ). Vaughn went on to earn two Associate degrees – one in Jazz Performance and the other in General Business – from Mesa Community College in Mesa, AZ and he later completed his Bachelors of Music in Jazz Performance from the prestigious William Paterson University of New Jersey in Wayne, NJ. Ryan currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.