Ronnie Day

Ronnie Day was born January 18, 1988 in the midst of a sunny California winter. His father, an accomplished trumpet player, began teaching him how to read music and play the trumpet as soon as Ron could talk. His mother, a journalist, began reading to him, planting the early seeds for a lyrically inclined mind. Ron wrote his first song while enrolled in kindergarten for entry in a contest. He won first prize for this song, but he would not write again for several years.

While in school, Ron started to play the violin. He earned the position of concert master in a competitive local youth group, The Peninsula Youth Orchestra, and continued to study the instrument into the summer before high school enrollment. This is when Ron was given his first guitar, an instrument he would instantly become deeply attached to. After several years of advanced study aside from high school, he began to teach students of his own. “I was always taught that music was my religion, and in the same way that other people live for their god, I lived for [music]”, Says Ron, “Working as a guitar instructor was just another way for me to fit music into my schedule.”, a schedule which Ron could never seem to stuff to satisfaction. He would often head to a local studio, The Annex, after school. Ron would record there late into the night, learning the inner workings of the studio. Then, when he got home and checked in with his parents, he would sneak back out, and record through the night, always arriving to school the next day exhausted and hungry.

Eventually, at the age of sixteen, Ron tested out of high school and began working on a degree in Music Industry and Recording. “Most of the kids I knew thought that I left school to be a rock star,” says Ron, “but they never understood the pure dedication and love that I have for this occupation”, and Ron made sure he was fully occupied at all times. As soon as he left high school, he started working longer days, channeling all of his money into building a home studio. One week before his seventeenth birthday, the studio reached completion, and Ron began recording his debut album, Nine Sleepless Nights, all the while working, attending college, and playing night gigs with his band, Sounds Like Life.

Many of the songs to be placed on the final album were written as they were recorded. “I would pick a key, and from there I would just lay down tracks with my acoustic guitar.” Ron explains, “I would usually stay up through the sunrise working on a song. Once I start a piece there is no resting halfway, that would be like a woman falling asleep in the middle of labor.” And it was this nocturnal habit that made “Nine Sleepless Nights” the obvious title of the album.

On the album, Ron is featured playing the guitar, bass, piano, violin, drums and even some trumpet. He also sings all of the songs, and is the sole writer, producer and engineer for the project. The album was released by him, through a record label he established for this purpose, Ronnie Day Records. A true solo artist by every definition, Ron is involved on every level of his career. Some may say that he is spreading himself too thin, but as he explains, “I didn’t go into this business because I thought it would be easy. I’m not looking to get rich, or famous, and I don’t have time to get laid. I do this because it adds meaning to my life, and that’s something that is worth more than anything else you’ll ever find looking around in this world.”

Whether or not he succeeds as a major label recording artist with world tours and platinum records, Ron will always be able to find happiness in life because of his unwillingness to sit in the passenger seat. He will continue to do everything in his power to ensure that music is evident in every aspect of his life, and that there is a song for every step along the way.