Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific contributor—by songwriting and production—to material for other artists since the mid-2000s.
Tedder's production and songwriting work has proved commercially successful. "Apologize", performed by OneRepublic, "Bleeding Love", performed by Leona Lewis, and "Halo", performed by Beyoncé, were each produced by Tedder and remain among the best-selling singles of all time. In early 2014, Billboard named him "The Undercover King of Pop" and featured him on the magazine's cover.[2] He served as a producer on the 2018 reality series Songland. He is a three-time recipient of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his credits on Adele's 21 and 25, and Taylor Swift's 1989.
Early life and education
Ryan Benjamin Tedder[3] was born to Gary Tedder & Marlene Watrous.[4] He was raised by an extended family of missionaries and pastors in a Christian church.[5][6] Tedder began learning to play the piano at the age of three via the Suzuki method. He practiced piano in exchange for candy corn from his musician father and schoolteacher mother.[5] Tedder started singing at the age of seven.[7] He was a self-taught vocalist who secretly began imitating his favorite artists, such as The Beatles, U2, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, and Sting at the age of twelve. He has commented, "I sang for two hours a day every day of my life until I was eighteen."[5] He continued to perform musically during his adolescence through church, school, and personally formed groups.[8]
Tedder worked as a waiter and a shop assistant at Pottery Barn before securing an internship at DreamWorks SKG in Nashville, where he sang on multiple demos. He produced demos for songwriters and labels, charging $300 to $400 a track.[5] Tedder claims that DreamWorks offered him his first publishing deal shortly after his arrival; however, he was intent on pursuing a career as an artist, and his first venture in that arena came via a different route altogether.
At the age of twenty-one, Tedder competed in a singer-songwriter competition and was selected by NSYNC artist Lance Bass as one of five finalists to perform on a one-hour special on MTV, performing original material in front of millions of viewers.[12] The prize for the winner was a music contract with Bass's now-defunct management company, Free Lance Entertainment.[12] The contestants performed live and were then rated by the judges and by the audience, with the highest-scoring artist winning the contract. Tedder's performance of one of his songs, "The Look", received the most votes from the judges and fans, and he won the competition; however, a contract with a recording label was not finalized and no album was released.[12] Tedder later revealed that the record and publishing deal he was offered "wasn't real. It was just a bunch of hype that didn't turn into anything".[13]
Producing and writing
One year after winning the MTV competition, Tedder caught the attention of the hip hop producer Timbaland.[14] Tedder commented that he was with Timbaland from 2002 to 2004 to develop as an artist while producing for other artists at the time.[13] Tedder's work crossed many musical genres (ranging from hip hop, R&B, rock, pop to dance) and he has had chart successes in both America and the United Kingdom with some artists. Tedder met producer Morten Schjolin in 2005, doing various collaborations for Tattoo's second album. In June 2007, Tedder signed a worldwide publishing administration deal with Kobalt Music Publishing. The deal included Tedder's new works and all songs not performed by OneRepublic.
Tedder performing onstage, 2009
Tedder is the writer of the song "Apologize", performed with OneRepublic. The song broke the US Top 40 Radio Airplay Record with 10,331 plays in one week. It was the number-one most played song for five months until May 7, 2008, when Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love", a song co-written and co-produced by Tedder, broke the record previously set by "Apologize", with 10,665 plays in one week.[15] "Bleeding Love" was the best-selling single of 2007 in the United Kingdom, topping the UK charts for seven weeks. It was the fastest-selling CD of 2007 receiving the most radio airplay worldwide before its US debut.[16] The song also earned a Best British Single award nomination at the Brit Awards in February 2008 and reached number one in over 35 countries.[16] Tedder and co-writer Jesse McCartney received an ASCAP award for writing "Bleeding Love". Tedder is also credited for writing the treatment for the second music video that was filmed for the US release of "Bleeding Love". It also earned a Record of the Year nomination at the February 2009 Grammy Awards.[17]
Tedder had expressed interest in collaborating with Adele after they met at the 2009 Grammy Awards ceremony in February. He arrived four hours early to their first studio session. He composed the opening piano sequence and first few lines to what became the song "Turning Tables". Adele and Tedder arranged a second meeting and reconvened at Serenity West Studios in Los Angeles weeks later to write and record "Rumour Has It".[20] In an interview, Tedder recalled his astonishment at the singer's musical and vocal prowess after she completed the main vocals to the song in 10 minutes: "She sang it top to bottom, pitch-perfect, she didn't miss a note. I looked at the engineer then at her and said, 'Adele, I don't know what to tell you but I have never had anyone do that in ten years."[21] His work with Adele brought him a Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 2012 Grammy Awards.
In 2011, Tedder worked with Demi Lovato for their third studio album, Unbroken. When talking about working with Tedder on the song "Who's That Boy" during a Spotify session named "About Unbroken", Lovato stated: "He's a really funny and cool guy, we had a really great time in the studio." Lovato commented that the track was "personally one of my favorite songs of the album." Furthermore, they added that they were "excited to say I worked with such a talented songwriter and producer."[22] Tedder later commented: "Demi blew me out of the water vocally! I had no idea how good her voice is. She's one of the best singers I've ever worked with. Literally, that is good... I mean, she's a Kelly Clarkson-level vocalist. And Kelly has a set of pipes."[23] Tedder returned to work with Lovato in 2013 and 2015 for their fourth and fifth studio albums, respectively. He co-produced and co-wrote the single "Neon Lights" from Demi, while also penning the track "Wildfire" with Lovato for Confident.
In 2012, Tedder co-wrote "Good in Goodbye" for Carrie Underwood's fourth album, Blown Away, released on May 1, 2012. He produced tracks for Maroon 5's fourth album, Overexposed. Tedder co-wrote and co-produced the song "Satellite" for British band The Wanted which appears on their US album released on April 24, 2012.[28] He also worked on B.o.B's Strange Clouds, released in May 2012; he produced and co-wrote the single "So Good" and is featured on "Never Let You Go".[29] He also recorded vocal tracks for Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso's dance music track (which he also co-wrote), titled "Calling".[30] Tedder was featured on Gym Class Heroes' single "The Fighter".[31]
Tedder wrote and produced the song "Ghost" by Ella Henderson, released on June 8, 2014.[36] In 2014, Tedder collaborated on writing and producing with artists such as Maroon 5 for their fifth studio album V,[37] and Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album 1989.[38] He has also produced and wrote for Ariana Grande's second studio album My Everything.[39] Tedder shares producing credits on U2's 2014 album, Songs of Innocence. It was also announced that he would be working with One Direction for their fourth studio album Four, and said that the song he had worked with them was titled "Got Away".[40][41][42] Tedder also collaborated with Mikky Ekko for his album Time.[43] In 2014, Tedder provided featured vocals for David Guetta's song "S.T.O.P." for his album Listen.[44]
In 2015, Tedder wrote "I Want You To Know" with Zedd and Selena Gomez.[45] He also penned "Flares" with The Script for their album No Sound Without Silence.[46] Tedder also co-wrote "Remedy" with Adele for her third studio album, 25,[47] and "Wildfire" for Demi Lovato's fifth studio album Confident.[48] Tedder also provided vocals for the song "Scars" by Swedish DJ Alesso, featured on his debut studio album, Forever.[49]
In 2016, Tedder featured on Cassius's song "The Missing" from their album Ibifornia.[50] He had also teased collaborations with both The Chainsmokers[51] and Echosmith via social media. Tedder produced "Happier" for Ed Sheeran for his third studio album ÷ (2017).[52] In 2017, Tedder began work with Camila Cabello for her debut studio album Camila, released on January 12, 2018. It was during songwriting sessions that Tedder came into the picture. They collaborated on songs such as "Into It". They also wrote a song titled "It Ain't Easy", which was later sold to another artist.[53] Tedder has opened up about what working with Cabello was like, stating that "[he] was so intimidated. She was so good." He added, "She's not only an incredible singer, but she's also the most talented young artist I think I've worked with songwriting in the longest time..."[53] In 2020, Tedder co-wrote "Bet You Wanna", a song by the girl group Blackpink featuring Cardi B from their debut studio album The Album.[54]
In January 2021, Tedder sold a majority stake of his music catalog for around $200 million to investment firm KKR.[55]
In addition to producing, Tedder is the lead vocalist for the band OneRepublic. The six-member band consisting of Tedder, Zach Filkins, Eddie Fisher, Drew Brown, Brent Kutzle, and Brian Willett was formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002 by Tedder and his high school classmate Zach Filkins.[56] The band gained further exposure when their 2007 single, "Apologize", was remixed and re-released on Timbaland's compilation album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The remix became an international chart-topper in the fall of 2007.[57] The song broke records after gaining 10,331 spins in one week. According to SoundScan, "Apologize" is the most legally downloaded song in US digital history with sales of over 4.3 million digital downloads in the US alone.[58] It is also the second best-selling song of the decade.[59] OneRepublic's debut album, Dreaming Out Loud, includes both the song's original version and remix with Timbaland, and was released on November 20, 2007, on Timbaland's Mosley Music Group imprint via Interscope Records.[60] The band had previously been signed to Columbia Records, and their album was due to be released in 2006, but got pushed to 2007. Tedder explained: "Crap happened. People got fired. Labels merged and politics abounded".[61] Subsequently, the band was released from their deal with Columbia, and they were signed by Timbaland in the summer of 2006 becoming the first rock band to be signed to Mosley Music Group.[61] Tedder has commented on the success of "Apologize", stating: "The toughest thing to do is write a hit song, but we had a hit song before we had an album... What has happened has been really strange and really great."[60] The band finished recording their second album, Waking Up, on August 25, 2009, and released the lead single "All the Right Moves" to radio and iTunes everywhere except Germany and Austria, where "Secrets" was released instead.[62] The album was released on November 17, 2009, in the United States. To date, the second US single, "Secrets" has reached over 2 million digital downloads, and the third single "Good Life" broke into the Top 10 on iTunes and multiple radio stations.[63]
Throughout 2012, the band made significant progress on their third studio album, Native. The album was released on March 26, 2013, to mostly positive reviews from music critics.[64] It became the band's highest-charting album to date, with the album being their first in the top 10, debuting at number four on the Billboard 200.[65] It sold 60,000 copies within its first week. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the lead single "Feel Again", was donated to Save the Children's Every Beat Matters, a campaign to support training frontline health workers around the world.[66] On October 7, 2016, their fourth album Oh My My was released. It included the singles "Kids", "Wherever I Go", and "Let's Hurt Tonight", which were all released ahead of the album.
On May 17, 2019, they released the single "Rescue Me". On August 27, 2019, OneRepublic announced the single "Wanted", which was released on September 6. A promotional single, "Somebody to Love", was released on September 11.[67] On August 26, and 27, 2019, they performed at Red Rocks to a special first-ever collaboration with the Colorado Symphony with songs chosen and crafted with the orchestra, the band, and Red Rocks acoustics in mind.[68] On September 15, 2019, Tedder announced that the new album was to be titled called Human, and would be released in November 2019. "Rescue Me", "Wanted" and "Somebody to Love" are all scheduled to be on the album.[69]
On November 19, 2019, Tedder said that the album is planned to be released in spring 2020.[70] On January 22, 2020, Tedder announced over Instagram that the new album would be wrapped by March.[71] On March 10, 2020, the band announced their third single "Didn't I", which was released on March 13, 2020.[72]Human was announced on the same day to be set for release on May 8, 2020.[73] "Better Days" was released as the fourth single from the album on March 25, 2020, with all proceeds donated to MusiCares.[74] As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band announced the release of Human to have been postponed to the fall of 2020.[75]
In May 2021, the band released the song "Run" along with a music video. On July 1, 2021, they announced that Human would be released on August 27 and later on August 11, 2021, revealed the tracklist with 16 songs on the deluxe and 13 on the standard version. The album came out as scheduled on August 27 along with the single and a music video for "Someday".
Tedder is a multi-instrumentalist. During OneRepublic's performances, he switches from singing lead vocals to playing guitar, bass guitar, glockenspiel, tambourine, or piano. On occasion, he plays drums alongside the band's main percussionist, Eddie Fisher.[76]
In 2019, it was announced that Tedder would be a mentor and producer-host on NBC's Songland alongside Ester Dean and Shane McAnally. To date the show has had two seasons, with songs produced and written with Tedder being released in more episodes as compared to the fellow hosts.
Personal life
Tedder is married to Genevieve, whom he met in college. He has two sons, Copeland Cruz Tedder, and Miles Merrick Tedder. Both of his sons show a growing interest in music.[78] Tedder's cousins, Adam, Ashley, and Austin Clark comprise the band Sons of Sylvia and were formerly in The Clark Family Experience. He co-wrote their song "Love Left to Lose".[79]
Although a Christian, Tedder has stated that he does not want to be labeled as a Christian artist.[6]
.jpg)
