Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona Lewis, Adele, and Paul Oakenfold. Tedder is credited with having written the two most played songs in radio history ("Apologize", "Bleeding Love"), a record broken only by himself. He has received a total of four Grammy nominations, two for Beyoncé's "Halo", one for Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love", and one for his own band OneRepublic's single "Apologize".

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tedder is of Welsh descent[citation needed] and was raised by an extended family of missionaries and pastors. He began learning to play the piano at the age of three via the Suzuki method. His early interest in music was prompted by his musician father and school-teacher mother, who coaxed their young son into practicing piano in exchange for candy corn. Tedder started singing at the age of seven.A self-taught vocalist, Tedder began honing this skill at the age of twelve by imitating his favorite artists, who ranged from The Beatles to acts as diverse as Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder and Sting. 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. In his senior year, he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.There he met and became friends with future OneRepublic band-mate Zach Filkins on their soccer team at the Colorado Springs Christian School. He attended Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma and began to showcase his own material there. Tedder completed his college education and graduated from ORU in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations and Advertising.