Sleeping at Last is a musical project led by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ryan O'Neal (Born July 17, 1983).
Ryan O'Neal chose to retain the use of the band's name for his work from that point on but opted to focus on single songs.
The group built a significant local following[1] and opened for bands such as Kill Hannah and Plain White T's, attracting the attention of Billy Corgan, who got them signed to Interscope Records in 2002.
National touring ensued, first opening for Switchfoot, then for Billy Corgan's side project Zwan, Yellowcard, Something Corporate, the Format, and Bleu.
[5] In 2009, the band independently released their Storyboards album, which featured a guest orchestral arrangement by the legendary Van Dyke Parks.
On July 15, 2010 the band announced via their website that starting on October 1, 2010 until September 1, 2011 they would be releasing three songs on the first day of each month for one year,[6] a project they named Yearbook.
On May 22, 2011 it was announced that bassist and keys player Dan Perdue would be stepping down to pursue other interests, with the band continuing with Ryan O'Neal as the only permanent member.
[9] In December 2013, the song "In the Embers" from the album Atlas: Light was used by Turner Classic Movies as the soundtrack for the 2013 version of "TCM Remembers," the network's annual tribute to actors, producers, and other filmmakers who died during the year.
The lyrics of the song discuss leaving a legacy after death and compares the span of human lives to fireworks, stating that "till our temporary brilliance turns to ash, we pull apart the darkness while we can."
On January 30, 2014 the song "Sun" from the EP Atlas: Space 1 was used in the trailer for the book-based movie The Fault in Our Stars.
On April 2, O'Neal recorded two covers, "Today Has Been Okay" and "Chasing Cars", that were both used in the eleventh season of Grey's Anatomy.
On August 13, the artist’s single "Countdowns" was the feature song at the end of the next to last episode of The Astronaut Wives Club – The Dark Side.