Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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.

Ryan Benjamin Tedder was born to Gary Tedder & Marlene Watrous.

He was raised by an extended family of missionaries and pastors in a Christian church.

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.

Tedder started singing at the age of seven.

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."

He continued to perform musically during his adolescence through church, school, and personally formed groups.

He attended schools in Jenks, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, and Deer Creek, Oklahoma, outside of Oklahoma City, until his junior year, then transferred to Colorado Springs Christian School in Colorado Springs, Colorado his senior year, from which he graduated.

There he met and became friends with future OneRepublic bandmate Zach Filkins on their soccer team at the Colorado Springs Christian School.

He is best known as the frontman and 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.

He has amassed credits on albums and singles for acts including U2, Beyoncé, Leona Lewis, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Jonas Brothers, Jennifer Lopez, Camila Cabello, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, MØ, One Direction, Sugababes, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Adele, Logic, Paul McCartney, Blackpink, Twice, Bastille, Lil Nas X, Anitta and Tate McRae.

Tedder's production and songwriting work has proven 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.

He attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa and graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations and advertising.

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.

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.

The prize for the winner was a music contract with Bass's now-defunct management company, Free Lance Entertainment.

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.

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."

One year after winning the MTV competition, Tedder caught the attention of the hip hop producer Timbaland.

Tedder commented that he was with Timbaland from 2002 to 2004 to develop as an artist while producing for other artists at the time.

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 is the writer of the song "Apologize", performed with OneRepublic.

The song broke the US Top 40 Radio Airplay Record with 10,331 spins in one week.

"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.

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 spins in one week.

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.

Tedder and co-writer Jesse McCartney received an ASCAP award for writing "Bleeding Love".

In early 2014, Billboard named him "The Undercover King of Pop" and featured him on the magazine's cover.

He served as a producer on the 2018 reality series Songland.