The band was formed in 2002 by songwriter and record producer, Ryan Tedder and his high school friend, Zach Filkins, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The initial name of the band was Republic. In 2002, Tedder reconnected with Filkins who was living in Chicago, Illinois convinced Filkins to move to Los Angeles to form a band. Nine months later, they were signed to Columbia Records. After a few line-up changes, they finally settled with Tedder on vocals, Filkins on guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Fisher on drums, Brent Kutzle on bass and cello, and Drew Brown on lead guitar. They later changed the band name to OneRepublic after their record company mentioned that the name Republic might cause controversy with other bands. They worked in the studio for two and a half years and recorded their first full-length album. Two months before their album was due to be released, (with "Sleep" as their debut single), they were dropped by Columbia Records. The band was beginning to gain prominence on MySpace, becoming the number-one unsigned act on the site. The band caught the attention of a number of labels, including Timbaland's Mosley Music Group. The band soon signed onto the label, becoming the first rock band to do so. OneRepublic's first single, "Apologize", was released in its original version from the band's debut album Dreaming Out Loud. The song was also prominently featured as a remix on Timbaland's 2007 release of Shock Value. The single, featured on Shock Value, was a major hit both in the United States and internationally. The song was the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of the Top 40 radio in North America, with 10,331 plays in one week, until its record was broken by Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love," which was also co-written by Ryan Tedder. It peaked at number-one for eight consecutive weeks on the Billboard Pop 100 chart and reached the top-three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has sold over 3 million digital downloads in the U.S. and was certified 3x platinum. The song was a massive hit internationally, reaching number-one in 16 countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, Egypt, Turkey, and the Netherlands. It spent thirteen weeks at number-one in Canada. The second single from the album, "Stop and Stare", released in March 2008, hit the top twelve on the Hot 100 chart and reached #9 on the Pop 100 chart. The song, while not as successful as "Apologize", brought the band further into the limelight. Together, "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare" helped the band achieve mainstream success. Their third single, "Say (All I Need)", was released in the UK and the US in June 2008. In September 2008, the band released their fourth and final single from the album, "Mercy". OneRepublic's varied style of music has been described by Ryan Tedder: "We're no respecter of genre. If its a good song or a good artist whether rock, pop, indie or hip hop, they've probably influenced us on some level...nothing's new under the sun, we're a sum of a bunch of parts." They cite The Beatles and U2 as heavier influences on their music. OneRepublic has expressed a desire to move listeners onstage the way U2 does. All Music Guide commented on the band's sound, "...OneRepublic often favors cathartic, cranked-up choruses that Chris Martin has yet to tackle." Tedder downplays Coldplay as an influence; "Their influences are our influences. The big difference, though, is that I come from a much wider hip-hop and urban background. I’ve been producing, writing and performing urban stuff, and I try to bring that into the group because we’re not trying to be a British band." Drew Brown also stated: "We aren’t all die-hard Coldplay fans, but because of the comparisons, we’ve done our research, and I’m sure we’ve got a large handful of common influences."