Portaferry singer to support Ed Sheeran on tour

Portaferry singer to support Ed Sheeran on tour

1 March 2017

PORTAFERRY singer Ryan McMullan is gearing up to join Ed Sheeran’s forthcoming sell-out tour.

It’s not every day one of the world’s biggest pop stars asks you to be part of his tour, but that is exactly what happened to singer songwriter Ryan (27) who has received rave reviews over the past couple of years.

However, he was still blown away when he was personally approached by the multi-platinum selling Sheeran after a concert in London last year.

Sheeran was at the Shepherd’s Bush gig primarily to see his friend and Ryan’s compatriot Foy Vance perform, but he was bowled over by the support act’s mesmeric turn.

“Ed came over afterwards and asked me what I was doing in March and April of 2017. I said, ‘Nothing’ and that’s how it all started,” revealed Ryan. “I met him a couple of times prior to that and we got on well. But I never expected this.”

A past pupil of St Patrick’s Grammar in Downpatrick, Ryan will join Sheeran on his Divide tour which kicks off in Italy on March 16 and concludes at London’s O2 Arena on May 3. Along the way there will be stops in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris, prior to sell-out gigs in Dublin’s 3Arena on April 12 and 13.

Sheeran took to Twitter to announce the two acts — Ryan and English singer Anne-Marie Nicholson — who would be joining him for a tour to promote his third album Divide.

He posted: “They are both fantastic, check them out... you won’t regret it.”

Ryan said he is humbled to have the chance to perform on some of the biggest stages throughout Europe.

“This is going to be the music event of the year and to be part of it is simply amazing,” said Ryan, an Ulster University graduate said.

“Ed Sheeran is a genuine superstar, but he behaves like a regular guy and we get on great. He’s an absolute gentleman. I can’t praise him enough.”

Ryan, who studied civil engineering while at university, hopes the forthcoming tour will help him go as far as he can in the music business as it is something he wants to do for the rest of his life.

It’s a far cry from where he started out, playing in a band with friends in pubs, although his 54-year-old dad John still regularly performs in their Portaferry local, Fiddler’s Green.

“When I was 14 or 15, I said I wanted to learn to play the guitar so my dad actually learned first — so he could help me,” explained Ryan.

The duo started playing in bars, but Ryan went to university because it was important to his dad, a labourer, and classroom assistant mum Nuala (54), that he and older brother Paul (29) embraced further education.

After he finished his course, Ryan took a year out to work on his music and, courtesy of self-penned songs such as A Winter’s Coat, Oh Susanna and Ghosts, his stock began to rise in the latter part of 2015.

Ryan, who plays guitar and piano, credits Foy Vance as being his “biggest inspiration” and loves other home-grown acts such as Van Morrison and Snow Patrol, whom he says “defined his life growing up.”

In fact, Snow Patrol’s lead singer, Gary Lightbody, has described Ryan as having “a voice like an angel,” an accolade he is delighted with given the Bangor band was one of his favourites.

Ryan added: “Happiness is the key to everything and doing this is what really makes me happy. I honestly want to be able to do this for the rest of my life.”