Scott Stapp Says His Health was Failing on Last Creed Tour

LaunchDaily August 11 2004

When Creed broke up in June, the official line was that the group had simply gone as far as they could and were looking for new challenges. But singer Scott Stapp says things weren't right as far back as the band's 2001-2002 tour in support of their last album, Weathered. Stapp told us that Creed's nonstop schedule had left him a physical wreck. "You know, I had pneumonia, then they found out I had two tumors behind my sternum. I had a nodule on my vocal cord. I was suffering from exhaustion because, despite having all these health problems, I didn't take time off. I was kinda pressured, quote unquote, to deal with it."

Stapp says he was given Prednisone, an anti-inflammatory drug, to soothe his vocal cords so he could keep touring. But the drug brought him down mentally and caused him to gain weight, which led to rumors that he was drinking heavily. He says the combination of problems finally put him over the edge. "In dealing with all that and, you know, feeling like, you know, all people around me cared about was money, and not about my health, I kinda got depressed about that, and kinda disenfranchised with humanity for a while."

The vocalist says that turning towards Christianity helped pull him through this difficult period in his life.

Stapp returns to the music scene this week with his first solo outing, a song called "Relearn Love." The track is the first single from the upcoming album, The Passion Of The Christ: Songs, a collection of material inspired by director Mel Gibson's controversial Biblical epic. The album and the DVD of the film both arrive on August 31st.