Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins were founded in 2002 by OneRepublic. They met in Colorado Springs during their senior year in high school. They formed a band named This Glorious Chaos before creating music under the name OneRepublic, and performed one talent show but split up after a week. Before undertaking that plunge into band life again, they promised to devote their time and energies sharpening their talents as performers and songwriters.
“Most bands they play for years and they suck,” Ryan said. “They figure out writing on the back end if they figure it out at all. I always wanted to know that as long as I was alive, I could write the kind of songs that would be hits so I would have a career.”
Ryan won an MTV songwriting competition during his junior and senior years at university and got a record contract, but backed away from the chance. He desired something more meaningful, and he thought like he had more to experience. So he came to Nashville at 19 years of age and discovered what it means to be a good songwriter.
“I had the advantage of seeing all these artists coming through and seeing the ones that worked and the ones that didn’t,”I had the benefit of seeing all these artists pass through and seeing the ones that performed and the ones that did not. “I learned that people who write great songs are the ones that have careers.” At around that point, Timbaland, who had seen Ryan on MTV, gave him a production contract and an opportunity in Miami to work together.
Zach, meanwhile, had studied aerospace engineering in Illinois at college after leaving Ryan with his band project. The singer, though, who learnt how to play guitar from the age of seven, found his love for guitar blossoming. By 2003, he had relocated back to Colorado with Ryan. Having done whatever they could to mitigate the danger of forming a band, the two of them went to L.A. And once again began producing music together.
They were signed to Columbia Records nine months back. They eventually solidified with Ryan on vocals, Zach on guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Fisher on percussion, Brent Kutzle on bass and cello, and Drew Brown on guitar after a few line-up shifts. Originally named as Republic, they renamed it to OneRepublic after that.
“Dreaming Out Loud” was released as their first studio album back in 2007. They had reached out to such acclaimed musicians as Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Greg Wells for the effort, even if they were all fresh in the field. Greg managed to create all the tracks on the record. Justin paired up with Ryan writing “Apologize” smash hit, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100, bringing them widespread success when it dominated a range of singles charts around the globe. Timbaland was intrigued by the accomplishment of “Apologize” to remix the song and submit it to his own “Shock Value” section 1. album.
Since then, Ryan has written songs for other artists and produced them. His credits include “Bleeding Love” from Leona Lewis, “Break Anotha” from Blake Lewis, “Do It Well” from Jennifer Lopez, and several others. As for the band itself, they were interested in the “Lost Then Found” 2009 album by Leona.