OneRepublic were formed by frontman Ryan Tedder and his high school friend, Zach Filkins, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Together with a small group of friends they put together a band known as This Beautiful Mess, and played a few small gigs in local bars supported by friends and family. On finishing school, Tedder and Filkins went separate ways and attended different colleges. Tedder competed in and won a TV talent search sponsored by MTV and 'N Sync's Lance Bass, during which he caught the attention of producer Timbaland, who made a few calls and offered Tedder a record deal. When Tedder's prize winning contract with FreeLance Entertainment fell through, he accepted and was signed as a producer, learning from Timbaland himself as his protege. After 2 years, the went their separate ways, and with Timbaland's approval, Tedder moved on to become an artist. For a while, he worked under the nom de plume 'Alias', producing and writing songs for various artists (receiving a Grammy nomination for his work on Paul Oakenfold's “A Lively Mind”). In 2002, Tedder reconnected with Filkins who was living in Chicago, and convinced him to move to Los Angeles to put a band together. 9 months later they were signed to Columbia Records, and after a few line up changes settled for Tedder on vocals, Filkins on guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Fisher on drums, Brent Kutzle on bass and cello, and Drew Brown on guitar. Known initially as Republic, they later changed the name to OneRepublic. After over 2 years studio work they had a debut album, with “Sleep” as the lead single, however 2 months before release they were dropped by Columbia Records. However, they became the number 1 unsigned act on MySpace, in the process catching the attention of a number of labels, including Timbaland's - the band subsequently signed to the Mosley Music group, becoming the first rock band to do so.

Debut album ”Dreaming Out Loud”, produced by Greg Wells, was released in the US in November 2007, and worldwide in early 2008, and has sold nearly 800,000 copies in the US alone, and over 1.5 million worldwide. The album contains both the original version of the song “Apologize”, written by Tedder, and a remix version – the remix also appeared on Timbaland’s “Shock Value” (2007), and this version has sold 3 million copies in the US (thus certified 3 times platinum) and 5 million worldwide, peaking at number 3 on the UK Singles chart. It is the most legally downloaded song in US digital history with sales of over 4.3 million digital downloads in the US, and was also the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of Top 40 radio in North America, racking up 10,331 spins in a week, and held the number 1 spot for 5 months (the record was then broken by "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, a song co-written and produced by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder). The band's second single, "Stop and Stare," has passed the 2 million mark in terms of worldwide single sales.