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WHO It's taken OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder seven years and four record deals to finally capitalize on his big break. Back in 2000, Tedder won a Lance Bass-sponsored talent search, performing a self-penned, falsetto-laden pop song, "The Look," on MTV's TRL at the height of that show's popularity. A deal with Bass' label didn't amount to anything, but Timbaland happened to see the TRL performance, and he sought Tedder out. "He sounded like John Mayer, but better," says the producer, who had Tedder accompany him to studios around the world for two years and gave him a guest spot on the 2003 Bubba Sparxxx song "She Tried."
But Tedder was no closer to an album of his own, so he parted ways with Timbaland and started a band with his school pal Zach Filkins. As OneRepublic, they quickly signed to Columbia — which dropped them just as quickly after they turned in their debut. Finally, Timbaland — now boasting new-found pop cred and a new label with Interscope — came back into the picture last year, signing his long-lost éprotégé to a new deal. He included a remix of the OneRepublic ballad "Apologize" on his platinum album Shock Value, and it's now a Top Ten hit. "It's completely bizarre," Tedder says of his band's long and complicated backstory. "But when something good happens, you accept it and roll with it."
SOUND OneRepublic's debut album, Dreaming Out Loud, is an ultracommercial blend of lightly rocking Coldplay-style tunes and R&B-flavored ballads, topped by Tedder's supersmooth vocals. Tedder cites Stevie Wonder, Oasis, the Beatles, Peter Gabriel and Radiohead among his influences. "It's really just a collection of everything that I love musically," he says.
KEY TRACK "Stop and Stare" After the R&B-style "Apologize," O.R. prove their rock chops with this Coldplay-esque slow-burner. LISTEN
SECRET IDENTITY Tedder also has a lucrative side career as a writer and producer under the name Alias — he's written and produced songs for artists such as Jennifer Lopez, American Idol's Blake Lewis, even Tupac. But now he wants to focus on his own band. "I didn't move to L.A. to be a writer-producer, I moved here to be an artist — and you get one shot at this in your life," he says. "Well, I guess I've had two."