OVERHEARD Why OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder Won't Sing at Weddings and More Insider Scoop

No Weddings For Tedder

Ryan Tedder doesn’t do weddings. The prolific songwriter played an exclusive show with his band OneRepublic at the Red Bull Sound Space at AMP Radio in Los Angeles on July 21 and afterward told Overheard he’ll no longer sing at weddings “because nothing makes me more nervous.” As Tedder sees it, “If you forget a lyric or fall onstage, you can always do another show. But with a wedding, that’s it" -- and, he adds, thanks to the videographers and photographers that are hired to document weddings today, any gaffe "is recorded forever."

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Tedder also talked about OneRepublic’s yet-to-be-titled new album, which is slated for a fall release. It took 18 months to record, “the longest amount of time we have ever spent on one project,” he says. “We did a lot of living in the last four years -- there was a lot to write about.” Peter Gabriel, Romy Madley Croft from The xx and Cassius make guest appearances on the record, and, Tedder says, the tracks came together in some far-flung locations. "We have a song called "The Future Looks Good," which I wrote in Rio and we recorded in São Paulo. Another track, “Kids,” which Tedder says will be the lead single, was created in Japan and Mexico City. Tedder is busy with other projects as well, including working on a song with Stevie Wonder for a movie soundtrack that is slated to be released as Christmas. (He declined to reveal the title.)

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Sting Serenades Trudie

Sting played a benefit for conservation group Oceana at the Hollywood Hills home of manager-producer and Oceana board president Keith Addis on July 19, but there were moments when he seemed to be playing exclusively for his wife, Trudie Styler. The former frontman of The Police wouldn’t start the show until he had located Styler in the crowd, which included actor and Oceana co-founder Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldblum, Brooklyn Decker and Andy Roddick. “I just want to make sure you are here before I start," he said after locating his spouse of 24 years. Backed by a six-piece band, Sting played a 45-minute set that opened with "Message in a Bottle" and included "Englishman in New York," "Fragile" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." After performing the romantic “Fields of Gold,” which includes the lyric “Will you stay with me, will you be my love,” Sting pointed at Styler and said, “I always think of you when I sing that.”