Editing Creed (band) (section)

===Early years (1994–1996)===
[[file:Scott Stapp 2016 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Founding member, vocalist [[Scott Stapp]] (pictured in 2016)]]
Creed began in [[Tallahassee, Florida]] in 1994.<ref name="Stapp 2012">{{cite book |first=Scott |last=Stapp |title=Sinner's Creed |date=2012 |pages=97–98 |publisher=Tyndale House |isbn= 9781414377216 |quote='What if we just call ourselves Creed?' I asked... At the time it was 1994, my sophomore year.}}</ref> Founding members vocalist [[Scott Stapp]] and guitarist [[Mark Tremonti]] had been classmates in high school and friends at [[Florida State University]].<ref name="allmusic.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/creed-p278625/biography |title=Creed |website=[[AllMusic]] |first=Steve |last=Huey |access-date=February 4, 2011 |archive-date=January 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110062242/http://allmusic.com/artist/creed-p278625/biography |url-status=live }}</ref> Stapp and Tremonti realized that they had a mutual love of writing music and performing. After multiple discussions and much time spent writing songs, several of which addressed themes of [[Christianity|Christian theology]] and spirituality (due to Stapp's spiritual background as the stepson of a [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] minister), the duo held auditions that led to the recruitment of bassist [[Brian Marshall]], drummer [[Scott Phillips (musician)|Scott Phillips]], and rhythm guitarist Brian Brasher completing the quintet. The five-piece band lasted through 1994, with Brasher leaving in 1995. Creed decided to remain as a quartet. The four musicians had already written and collaborated on four songs that would form part of their chart-topping debut album, ''[[My Own Prison]]''. The band found local success, playing shows in bars and small dives in Tallahassee. In 2012, Stapp wrote that Creed first performed under the name "Naked Toddler" at Yianni's in Tallahassee; the name was picked up by Tremonti from a headline in that day's newspaper, but the reaction that night to the name was negative. The group was trying to find ideas for a better name when Marshall said he had been in a band called Mattox Creed. Stapp latched onto the ‘creed’ aspect, and the band agreed.<ref name="Stapp 2012"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNTO2orJs3I| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211103/GNTO2orJs3I| archive-date=2021-11-03 | url-status=live|title=Creed's Scott Stapp - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?| website=[[YouTube]]|date=February 3, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>