Niagara Music Awards redemption for Ryan Lunn
At rock bottom, Ryan Lunn called his parents to tell them he was dying. Years of untreated ADHD had left him a mess of addictions, buried in anxiety. He could feel himself letting go.
His parents drove two days to the East Coast to bring him back to Niagara. Detox and a long recovery followed, during which he had a new purpose: Telling his story in music.
“I had this idea about creating this storyline told through the seasons to depict addiction,” he says. “The fall being the decline, the winter being the bottom cold period, spring is the rebound and summer is the bright future.”
The songs will be on a forthcoming album, “We Are Co-Pilots,” but Lunn has another milestone to enjoy before then: Sunday’s Niagara Music Awards, where he’s nominated for six awards including best original song, male vocalist of the year and the votein People’s Choice Award.
The nominations were a stunner
for Lunn, who submitted with hopes he’d get perhaps one nomination for producer of the year (he did). He joins Niagara singer/ songwriters Brad Battle and Mel Monaco for the most nominations for this year’s event, taking place at the Champagne Banquet Hall in St. Catharines.
But Lunn, previously nominated with his former band The Ikes, is most proud of his promoter of the year nomination. It’s the one he shares with his fiancée/artist Jill Shimizu for their Lincolnbased company Ryan Lunn Music & Consulting.
Together, they stage regular showcases at the Warehouse Concert Hall for local talent.
“I was more proud of us,” he says.
“You get more nervous when it’s your music,” adds Shimizu. “It’s easier to have your job (nominated).”
Shimizu painted the cover for Lunn’s album, and will be speaking along with Jennifer Dockstader at Friday’s Indigenous Concert Series at the Victoria Avenue library in Niagara Falls, starting at 7 p.m. The show, titled From Trauma to Beauty, will feature some of Lunn’s original music.
Heading into Sunday, Lunn is reflecting on how he got from rock bottom to the Niagara Music Awards.
“It’s going to be one of the most incredible things that’s happened to me in a long time,” he says.
“If this was years ago and I was full of that addiction and angst, a.) I would have missed the awards show probably, and b.) I wouldn’t be able to properly take it in and be grateful for what’s happening.
“I know most of the people I’m nominated with have been doing it longer and they’re amazing.”