01:00 AM EST on Saturday, March 18, 2006

BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer

He's sung God Bless America at Yankees games, serenaded former President George H.W. Bush on his 80th birthday, and helped celebrate the marriage of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

This weekend, Ronan Tynan will be entertaining fans at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Tynan, until a couple of years ago a member of the famed Irish Tenors, will be joining the Rhode Island Philharmonic for the second of its pops programs presented in collaboration with PPAC.

Tynan will be singing selections from the three solo albums he has released since he and the Tenors parted ways. His most recent CD, Ronan -- it reached No. 2 on the classical crossover charts, just behind Josh Grogan -- contains such popular favorites as "Amazing Grace," "From a Distance" and the title song from Man of La Mancha, plus hymns and opera arias.

"It's all good," said Tynan from his home in New York. "Things are going well."

Tynan, 45, splits his time between his native Ireland and Manhattan, although one suspects he spends more time in the States than the Emerald Isle.

"I love this country," he gushed. "I think it's a fantastic country."

And he gravitates to New York even though he has a longtime girlfriend in Ireland.

"She's a great character," he said. "We make time for one another. She's in Ireland, but comes over."

It's a wonder he has time for much of anything but music, though. Besides orchestra gigs, such as the one he will do Saturday with the Philharmonic, he's got his own band and does recitals with pianists. Plus, he does a lot of motivational speaking and works with the disabled.

That's one reason he left the Tenors.

"I had too much on my plate," he said. "I wanted to expand my horizons."

He does a lot of charitable work for people with multiple sclerosis, a disease his sister battles, and Alzheimer's, which has afflicted his mother. She is in the last stages of the disease.

"You get so many pleading letters," he said. "It's heart-wrenching. But you can't do everything for everyone."

That Tynan should set aside time for people with disabilities -- he picks a single person, usually an amputee, to work with each year -- should come as no surprise. Tynan lost both legs below the knees in a car accident when he was 20.

But that is just one chapter in a life as incredible as his meteoric concert career.

Past, present and future

Tynan was born on a farm in County Kilkenny with a condition that kept his lower limbs from fully developing. It was complications from the car wreck that led to the amputation of his legs.

Determined not to be sidelined, Tynan was climbing the stairs to his dorm room within weeks of the operation.

Within a year, in the early 1980s, he was amassing gold medals and setting world records, nine of which still stand, at the Paralympics.

It was soon after that that Tynan became the first person with a disability admitted to Limerick's National College of Physical Education. He went on to get a medical degree from Trinity College in Dublin, and began specializing in orthopedic sports injuries.

It wasn't until his early thirties, after he was well into his residency, that he took up formal voice lessons. Within a year, he won the John McCormick Cup and the BBC talent show Go For It.

"I'm always interested in doing something different," said Tynan, who published his autobiography in 2001. "I thought maybe this would work."

In the early 1990s, he enrolled in England's Royal Opera School and made the rounds singing oratorio and opera, making his debut in Madama Butterfly.

But it wasn't until 1998, when Tynan joined Anthony Kearns and John McDermott (later Finbar Wright) as the Irish Tenors, that he caught the public's ear.

He spent five years with the Tenors before striking out on his own and establishing his own repertoire, probably best described as classical crossover -- with a brogue. He's in the same market as Groban and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

"If you don't take risks," said Tynan, who has a philosophical streak, "that's the biggest risk."

Tynan looks back on opera as "been there, done that."

"Not now, I wouldn't do it," he said. "I love concert performances and I love opera, but there are so many phenomenal singers out there doing opera, I'm very content where I am."

And why not? Tynan will be recording a new faith-based CD, due out this fall, and has a number of new ventures in the works, none of which he would discuss.

"I have to keep my cards close to my chest," he said, although he did note that these were projects that would involve a cross-section of media, TV and film, and that the first of them would occur around Christmas.

Keep the faith

Tynan ascribes his successes to several things.

Being "blessed with two fantastic parents" helped. (He called his farmer father, who died in 1998, an "adorable little man"; he was 5-feet-4-inches tall, a foot shorter than Tynan, who is 6-feet-4.)

And believing in himself is a big part of his outlook.

"You've got to believe in yourself 100 percent. When you capture the will inside you, it will bring out the best in you. Don't deprive yourself. The greatest gift is satisfaction and fulfillment."

Tynan is also big on spirituality. When asked if there were still things he would like to accomplish, he said, "Whatever the man above decides will be fine with me. Faith is everything in my life."

Ronan Tynan joins the Rhode Island Philharmonic and conductor Francisco Noya Saturday night at 8 at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence. Tickets range from $36 to $66. Call (401) 421-2787 or visit www.ppacri.org.

cgray@projo.com / (401) 277-7492