Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall, the good guys of Rock and roll, make up the band Creed. The strong lyrics and amazing music has led Creed to 6 no. 1 singles and 2 incredibly successful albums, My Own Prison, and Human Clay. Front man Scott Stapp grew up in a deeply religious family. He was punished for his love of music, often copying pages from The Bible. Scott left his home and moved to Tallahassee Florida, the once hometown of The Doors front man Jim Morrison. For a brief period Scott lived out of his car. He found Mark Tremonti and they began writing songs together. Soon after Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips joined to group. With no record label, and to much talent to keep hidden, Scott, Mark, Scott and Brian headed to the recording studio on their own label which they called Blue Collar Records. For $6000, which Creed paid for with the money they earned doing odd jobs and local gigs, they made My Own Prison. A total of 6000 were printed and sold around Florida. Shortly after Creed was the first to sign with indie label Wind-up Records. Wind-up had My Own Prison re-recorded in August of 1997. After the first single, was released My Own Prison the song and the record shot up the charts. Torn, One, and What's this life for also shot to no. 1, making Creed the first band to have 4 no. 1 singles off their debut album.
Scott and Mark the "Tremonti/Stapp" writing team write when the spirit moves them. Which, Scott Stapp swears is normally at the same time. "We have ESP together," Stapp explains "I'm a firm believer that there are endless possibilities to what the mind can do. And Mark and I definitely have a weird relationship in that regard. There've been numerous occasions when I've called him up at say, four o'clock in the morning and I'm like 'Dude! I've just written a kick-ass melody and some great lyrics!' And he's like 'That's so weird, man- I was up, stumming my guitar and I just wrote something too!' And he comes over and it'll fit exactly. Weird. And other things have happened to him physically- hypothetically, he gets jumped and punched in the gut, and I'll have a stomach ache. We've had three or four situations where things like that have happened between us. We have this connection inside of us, and I don't know what that is." Scott and Marks lyrics come from emotions and experiences, they rarely explain what a song means. They believe that the songs mean whatever the person listening thinks it means to them.
Creed has become a force to be reckoned with. Bad reviewers, and lack of MTV hasn't stopped this band yet, and certainly won't stop them in the future. It's Creed's incredible sound that hooks fans, and there incredible performances that will keep them coming back.