The Group:
From Tallahassee Florida, Creed stands out as a grassroots phenomenon, a band with an enormous, passionate, loyal group of fans. Creed fans jam radio station request lines, helping them to become the first recording artists to have four #1 Rock singles from a debut album. The band won the 1998 Billboard Rock Artist of the Year and had the #1 selling hard music album for 1998 on other hard music charts. Their debut album, My Own Prison, was certified TRIPLE-PLATINUM in February 1998 and will no doubt reach quadruple-platinum status soon.
HUMAN CLAY - Creed's second album scheduled for relaese worldwide on September 28, 1999, and has been long anticipated by fans everywhere. The band recorded the album in a house outside of Tallahassee with John Kurzweg, who produced My Own Prison also. On Human Clay, lead singer and song writer Scott Stapp contemplates how responsibilities, choices and actions impact people. The first single "Higher" is about envisioning a perfect world while dreaming. Other songs are about fears of growing up and letting go of youth ("Never Die") conscience ("Faceless Man") and betrayal ("Beautiful") among other topics. Creed challenges their listeners to think without preaching or pretending to have all the answers. Balancing Creed's hard rock sensibilities is "Arms Wide Open," a deeply personal song that Stapp wrote when he learned he was going to become a father.
In defiance to his strict religious upbringing, Stapp left home at 17, started listening to rock music, which had been forbidden in his parent's home. Stapp was soon turned on to hard rock like Def Leppard's Pyromania, he later became a huge Doors fan. When he read that Jim Morrison had briefly lived in Tallahassee he soon packed his bags for the state capital. There he was reunited with former Tampa classmate and fellow songwriter Mark Tremonti and began his first and only band -- Creed. They added bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips and together their wide-ranging influences, including Metallica, Tool, Black Flag, Led Zeppelin, the Doors and even some classic R&B, created Creed's rich musical texture that has made them the phenomenon that they are today.
Creed's reputation for hard-hitting, passionate live performances has led to sold-out shows in almost every city they play. During the past two years Creed has played to more than a million fans worldwide. "Each show is an intense experience for us," says Scott Stapp. "We play from the heart." When asked during a local radio interview what is the secret to their success, Scott Stapp replied, "Sincerity".
Creed gave fans at Woodstock '99 something special to remember them by when they invited Robbie Krieger, guitarist for The Doors, to join them during their set on the main stage. When Stapp introduced Krieger, the crowd of approximately 200,000 erupted and shouted along to Doors favorites "Roadhouse Blues" and "Riders On The Storm." Krieger also played slide guitar on Creed's "What's This Life For."