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Not your typical pop idol

Ryan Cabrera keeps sight of loftier goals (faith, being a role model) while remaining well-grounded.

By AUSTIN ARIAS
Published March 7, 2005

ORLANDO - Hanging out with singer Ryan Cabrera is like hanging out with an old friend. Though his album, Take It All Away, has been certified gold, it doesn't seem like success has gone to his head.

He still gets excited when he talks about his tour bus or when his first single, On the Way Down, became a cell-phone ring tone.

He'll tell you about his love for chocolate chip cookies - "No joke, chocolate chip! . . . The fans know that so they bring you cookies and I always get sick (from eating too many)" - or how his parents felt about him pursuing his pop-rock music career.

"Still to this day they ask, "Are you ever going to get a job?' and I say "I'm fine.' "

You bet he's fine. The 22-year-old with the spiky blond hair, who just kicked off a spring concert tour at the House of Blues in Orlando, remains amazed at his own success.

"Every time you get to a venue and there are actually people there to see you play, I'm still not over that," Cabrera said. "Playing my own shows, it's still surreal for me."

Before the Orlando concert, Cabrera had just performed in Jacksonville at a Pepsi Smash kickoff concert. He was heading to Jacksonville again for a charity grand-prix race and a performance outside Alltel Stadium.

With his schedule packed with awards shows, television appearances, concerts (he appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last year), it is difficult for the singer to keep track of where he is.

"You wake up in a different city, not knowing the day of the week, or where you are," he said.

He does know where he came from. Cabrera got his start singing everywhere - at birthday parties, restaurants and clubs. He started playing guitar at 15. But to get more from his music, he began taking vocal lessons with the same coach as singer Jessica Simpson. After hearing Cabrera, the coach called Joe Simpson, Jessica Simpson's father and manager. Joe Simpson signed Cabrera after hearing him perform.

Cabrera, then 19, and Joe Simpson traveled to New York to shop for a record deal. After signing with Atlantic Records, he was ready to record. As a longtime fan of the Goo Goo Dolls, Cabrera was more than a little excited when Dolls singer John Rzeznik signed on to co-produce the album. Cabrera admits that he was initially intimidated, but he says the experience of writing and recording with Rzeznik was incredible.

When his debut album was set for release last year, Joe Simpson wanted Cabrera to get some exposure. So the singer became an opening act for Jessica Simpson, who was beginning a summer tour.

"Jessica is awesome. It was a really fun tour because it's good to be on tour with one of your friends," Cabrera said.

The exposure did help Take It All Away do well. The album went gold (sales of more than 500,000 copies) and is closing in on platinum (more than 1-million copies).

One fan, Julia Joyal, 16, says she likes Cabrera's music because his tunes are different from everything else out there. "(Ryan) doesn't sing about the stuff everyone else does . . . and (he) has a different type of music," said Joyal, a 10th-grader. "I think when he comes out with more songs, people will be listening to him more because he's a really good singer."

Cabrera says he wrote the album's first single, On the Way Down, when he found God. In the video, singer Ashlee Simpson, Jessica's sister, portrays Cabrera's love interest. In the March edition of Teen People, Ashlee said the two are dating after a breakup. However, at his Orlando show, Cabrera described himself as unattached.

In addition to singing and being on stage, he is doing his part for tsunami relief by contributing to the Teen People eBay auction, which recently ended. His contribution included tickets and meet-and-greet passes to one of his concerts.

Cabrera says it is important to contribute because a "lot of people look up to you and in turn may want to do something, too."

On tour, Cabrera will be performing his new single, 40 Kinds of Sadness, playing a few new songs and some covers.

"I love to be on stage, play, and be a dork, and people can accept that," he said.

- Austin Arias, 16, attends St. Petersburg Catholic High School.

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 11:29:03]