Bianca Ryan is the second of four children of Shawn and Janette Ryan. Her father, a fan of the Rolling Stones, named her after Mick Jagger's ex wife. She is one fourth Japanese and three fourths Irish. At age seven, Ryan developed a preference in the R&B and gospel music genres, and recalls practicing in her family's basement.

Ryan counts Yolanda Adams, Mariah Carey Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Holliday and Patti LaBelle among her favorite singers. Adams was her voice coach for the America's Got Talent finals.

For the 2006-2007 academic year, Ryan was a sixth-grader at School Lane Charter School in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania. "I'm in school most of the time," she said, "and keep up on my work when I have to go on the road."

Just before the release of her CD, Ryan's grandmother, Marie Ryan, who had struggled with Alzheimer's disease for five years, died. The following week, Mayor John F. Street proclaimed November 13 "Bianca Ryan Day" in Philadelphia and presented Ryan with a key to the city.

While searching the Internet for auditions early in 2006, Ryan discovered that Idol judge Simon Cowellwas serving as executive producer for an upcoming competition titled America's Got Talent. For her audition appearance, she chose the Dreamgirls showtune "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (originally performed by Jennifer Holliday), surprising the audience and the judges with her powerful voice. By April 2007, a copy of Ryan's audition had climbed into the 100 "Top Rated (All Time) in Music" videos at YouTube.

At the semi-finals of the show, the judges loved the performance but said that the song wasn't right for her. America's Got Talent's finale results aired on August 17, 2006, during which Ryan was announced as the winner of the first season of the show. Ryan made a brief appearance during the show's second season finale.

On August 24, 2006, Ryan announced on her website that she had flown to New York to meet with representatives from a "major record label" and some of the recording industry's top songwriters. The Northeast Times reported that same day that Ryan met with Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster and was being managed by Peter Rudge.

On September 18 2006 Ryan signed a five-album record deal with SYCOmusic as part of Columbia Records. Ryan is the first U. S. artist to sign with SYCOmusic. The following month, Ryan was in Los Angeles, California, to record her first CD, featuring cover versions of "The Rose" and "I Believe I Can Fly" and original songs like "I Wish That" and "Pray for a Better Day".

Bianca Ryan was released on November 14, 2006; eight days later, the album broke in at #57 on the Billboard album charts, showcasing "her gargantuan chops and sweet charm," wrote Matt Collar of Allmusic. Though he called the arrangements "somewhat over-the-top pop creations" and "grandiose, given Ryan's age, her musical aspirations are more than matched by her truly impressive vocal talent".