OneRepublic's debut set, "Dreaming Out Loud," made a solid first impression, landing at No. 17 on The Billboard 200 earlier this month. The emerging band got a leg up from hip-hip star/producer Timbaland, who took OneRepublic under his wing and helped the group score its first hit, "Apologize," by including a remixed version on his "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value" album.

OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder caught the attention of Timbaland several years ago when he performed on an MTV singer/songwriter show. Tedder worked with the music mogul for a couple of years and landed a record contract with Columbia, but the deal was short-lived. As OneRepublic was contemplating whether or not to continue, the band suddenly became one of the most popular acts on MySpace, according to its bio.

"All of a sudden, we were getting emails from kids saying that because of one of our songs, they didn't commit suicide or they got through their parents' divorce," Tedder explained in the bio. "We finally connected with the audience. We said to ourselves, 'We can't quit now.'"

When Timbaland launched his Mosley Music Group imprint under the Interscope umbrella, he was quick to sign OneRepublic as his first rock act.

The band has since been making the talk-show rounds, riding the wave of success behind "Apologize," and is now charting two more singles: "Stop and Stare" and "Say (All I Need)." Samples of those tunes are streaming at OneRepublic's MySpace page.

Meanwhile, Tedder has made a name for himself as a Grammy-nominated writer/producer, working with artists including Jennifer Lopez, Natasha Bedingfield, Lil' Jon, Paul Oakenfold, Ashley Tisdale, Chris Cornell and Bubba Sparxx.