Music

Creed's Scott Stapp is broke, hungry and living in a hotel

by Tyler Munro

In March we saw Scott Stapp and were pleasantly surprised. Sure, the Creed singer still sang his cheese-grated brand of yarling donkey rock, but he seemed to be in great spirits. He looked healthy, sounded sharp and really seemed to be doing well after some shaky years.

But then he cancelled some gigs a few months back, and it wasn’t looking good. Reports came around that Stapp, a recovering alcoholic, had fallen off the wagon. The other day, things took a turn for the worse. In a bizarre, lengthy and effect-laden video posted to his Facebook, Stapp spent 15 minutes talking about the “slanderous” and “libellous” accusations launched against him in the past weeks.

He addressed the rumours that he’d died—he hadn’t—and that he’d relapsed, which he says was also a lie.

He says that he started taking weekly (?!) blood and urine tests “in case anybody wanted to take him to the carpet” on “it,” and then, the bombshell: That he’s totally broke.

Stapp, who says he’s under “some kind of attack,” says he did an audit of his finances and uncovered that he hasn’t been paid royalties, has had money stolen from him and, as he puts it, that’s when “all hell broke loose.”

He says that his bank accounts have been frozen multiple times and that he’s the victim of identity theft.

He says he’s living in a hotel room at the Holiday Inn and that he’s being threatened, though by whom we’re not sure. He compares himself to Paul the Apostle, says he prays for and forgives people who’ve been spreading rumours about him and that, in all of this, all he’s fixated on is his three kids.

The 15-minute clip, uploaded to Stapp’s Facebook, isn’t easy to watch, and while he’s an easy target, it’s not at all funny. Stapp has struggled pretty badly with addiction in the past and has attempted suicide on at least one occasion. Creed were once the biggest band on the planet, if you can believe that, and Stapp has as a result sold more than 40 million records worldwide. We’re not sure what’s happened to leave him penniless, but it couldn’t have been good.