Mark Tremonty bio,vocalist from creed

Mark Tremonti was born in Detroit, Michigan. He began playing guitar at the age 
of 11. He met Scott Stapp for the first time at Lake Highland Prep School in Orlando. 
He did not meet up with Stapp again until he returned from Clemson University 
and the two went off to FSU together. They met up with Scott P. and Brian there, 
and formed a cover band called Naked Toddler. They played 32 cover songs for $500 
a night at a local club. They did not start playing all-original tunes until they 
were playing the bigger venues in Tallahassee, opening up for national acts. You 
know the rest of the story from there on... Mark Tremonti, in my opinion, is the 
real driving force behind the music of this band. A good band needs two things 
- a good vocalist and good music to go wwith the vocals. Without those two, the 
band cannot be good - a DJ cannot take the place of one. Mark is the music. He 
writes the songs (music) and even does most of the BG vocals, and his playing 
gives Creed the edge and bottom end that they are known for. I think he's really 
what sets this band apart. You frequently hear people saying "Scott Stapp is a 
Pearl Jam wannabe." I'm not saying he is, I believe he's not, but you never hear 
anyone say "Mark is a so-and-so wannabe." Mark originally started playing guitar 
because of Kiss, and some of his early influences include Black Flag, Metallica, 
and Soundgarden. After two years, Mark began learning classical guitar. He was 
first introduced to this style by a tab of Bach's Bouree in a tab magazine. After 
a few years, Mark began to train in the neo-classical field. Here he studied the 
styles of Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, and Yngwie Malmsteen. From these shredders 
Mark derived his own lead style. For a great example, listen to the solo in "Pity 
for a Dime." Through his career so far, Mark's most memorable moment, shared by 
him in a recent interview was when Eddie Van Halen came into Creed's dressing 
room and gave him a guitar. He also remembers hearing about Lars Ulrich (drummer 
of Metallica) mentioning Creed on Howard Stern and saying that he was impressed. 
Now Mark's work is finally being widely recognized by the guitar-playing world. 
This month at least two guitar magazines feature him on the cover, and a third 
has a long interview with him. I am happy to see that this phenominal musician 
is finally getting more of the credit he deserves.