Sleeping at last
Artists Facts
Name: Ryan O’Neal
Active: 1999-present
Genre: folk/rock/Indie
Birth Date: 17 July 1983
Place Of Birth: Wheaton, IL
Artist Background
Sleeping at Last began as an emo –inflected group made up of Ryan O’ Neal, his sibling Chad O’Neal and Dan Perdue. It was started with Ryan as the lead singer and guitarist, Dan as the bassist and Chad as the drummer. Popular Sleeping at Last songs include; ‘Say’, ‘Turning Pages,’ ‘and ‘Slow and Steady.’ They started out playing in local gigs and earned themselves a decent following before they got the support they needed to go national. The group played different styles including; emo, dream pop, alternative pop/ rock and alternative/ Indie rock. However, Chad O’ Neal and Dan Perdue left the group to pursue other interests and Ryan O’ Neal stayed and adopted the group name.
In 2000, Sleeping at Last recorded their debut album, ‘Capture’. It was this album that caught the attention of Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins frontman. He gave them the help they needed to get signed to Interscope Records. In 2003, they released the album ‘Ghosts’ but later chose to go independent again. Their ‘Ghosts’ album was successful and the band toured the nation. On their own, they released ‘Keep No Score’ album in 2006 and ‘Storyboards’ in 2009. Chad O’Neal and Perdue left the band soon after and chose to focus on other interests. Being left alone in the band, Ryan O’ Neal retained the band name and released solos and short EPs.
Artist Music Career
On October 1 2010, Sleeping at Last started the ‘Yearbook’ project. He announced on his website that he would be releasing three songs every new month for one year. He released 12 EPs each one for every month. It included songs such as ‘Watermark’ and ‘Homesick’ which sold pretty well. The songs ‘Wires’ and ‘emphasis’ were featured on Season fur of ‘Private Practice’ and ‘Tethered’ was featured on ‘Grey’s Anatomy, From the Ground Up’. In 2011, an instrumental from Sleeping at Last was featured in ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-part 1 Original Picture Soundtrack’.
In 2012, he released an EP consisting of songs from the yearbook project, and the previous Sleeping at Last studio albums. Towards the end of 2013, Ryan O’ Neal released a song from his new album ‘Atlas’. The new song, ‘Light’, was used as a soundtrack for Turner Classic Music’s ‘TCM Remembers’. The same song was used in 2014 on the OST of The Little Death. He released another song from the album early 2014. The song, ‘Sun’, was used in the trailer for ‘The Fault in Our Stars.’ He released ‘Atlas: Year One’ in July 2014 and ‘Atlas: Year Two’ was released in 2015. He also recorded two covers for ‘Chasing Cars’ and ‘Today has been okay’. The covers were also used in Grey’s Anatomy.
Artist Major Works & Achievements
Songs from Sleeping at Last have been featured in a lot of popular TV shows and films including; Grey’s Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, The Fault in Our Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Bones and many others. ‘Countdowns,’ a song from the group, was featured in ‘The Astronaut Wives Club- The Dark Side Sleeping at last has collaborated and performed and collaborated with other artists including Christina Perri, Phantom Planet, Mia Maestro, Chris Mann and many more. Since its formation in 1999, the band has been able to produce singles, EPs and albums that are recognized around the world. They performed in tours and shows across the country and on his own, Ryan O’Neal has been able to produce a lot of singles and EPs. He recorded an OST for ‘Many Beautiful Things.’ He also composed for ‘Kids President: Declaration of awesome.’
