Bio

Grammy winning songwriter, solo artist, and Creed frontman, Scott Stapp’s 1st album in six years, THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SHADOWS is a driving, propulsive celebration of overcoming that debuted in the Top 5 and Top 10 on album charts in the U.S. and UK.

“When you’re looking down a dark tunnel, everything is shadow. But taking one day at a time, you start to see the space between the shadows; the light and the color. The world takes shape in a whole new way.”

After five years of sobriety, Stapp created an album that makes peace, offers solace, expresses frustrations, hope, wins, and losses in healthy, powerful ways. The album’s first single, “Purpose For Pain,” is appropriately about finding meaning in darkness, returned Stapp to the radio charts last summer.

“Everyone goes through dark times and that pain is real. I think it helps to believe we’ll come to know the purpose for that pain, the lessons learned in enduring, and who that pain can help us become.”

Scott Stapp’s fighting spirit is well documented. He endured childhood trauma, fled home as a teen, supported himself, formed a band. Against the odds, Creed burst into popular consciousness in 1997 with MY OWN PRISON and would dominate rock radio throughout the early 2000’s. Followed by the Diamond-certified HUMAN CLAY (1999), WEATHERED (2002) and FULL CIRCLE (2009), Creed sold over 50 million albums, broke airplay records, sold out arenas, and won a Grammy for “With Arms Wide Open.”

As a solo artist, Stapp released PROOF OF LIFE (2013) and THE GREAT DIVIDE (2005). Rolling Stone wrote, Stapp is “a singer with an enormous emotional range and a composer of startling originality.” Yet, despite his success, the unresolved traumas of his past, depression, and addiction began to overshadow his gifts. Stapp’s health deteriorated and his personal and professional relationships were in jeopardy.

After an excruciating public struggle and decline, an intervention from family, MusiCares, and other artists led him to the resources needed to overcome, now five years and counting. But the journey was never easy.

“There are failures before there’s success,” says Scott. “but every day you renew your commitments. In learning that I was ill, not ‘weak,’ I regained control of my life. I can’t overstate the benefit of being understood – the shift in how we speak about mental health now is a blessing. I’ve definitely gained a perspective that lets me help people a few steps behind me on this path.”

As recovery reshaped his perspective, Scott and his wife of fourteen years, Jaclyn, moved with their three children to Nashville, TN. There, Scott found a haven for his family in a community that nurtures creativity and is renowned for turning sad stories into amazing music.

It was there that THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SHADOWS was written and recorded with producers Marti Frederiksen and Scott Stevens. The experience was not only collaborative but charged with a challenge amongst musicians to bring their best. In terms of emotional honesty, the gloves were off.

“We all got to do some story-telling and get to the heart of the man Scott has become,” said Frederiksen. “He’s come out strong and I’m proud of the work that went in to making it right.”

“This was an amazing journey,” added Stevens. “Working alongside Scott and Marti brought out the best in us all. We hit on every emotion and came out better friends because it.”

The album opens with the propulsive hard-rock blast of “World I Used to Know,” Scott’s state-of-the-union about current affairs. The hard-hitting “Purpose for Pain,” and the brooding, cathartic croon of “Ready to Love,” show the masterful evolution of one rock’s most distinctive voices. In “Name,” there is unflinching confrontation, while “Heaven In Me” is blues-soaked. “Survivor” is a superhero’s anthem and “Face of the Sun” looks boldly into the light. In a poignant moment, Scott’s children are the “choir” on “Wake Up Call,” a song that international organization Child Fund uses to share their mission to aid underfunded families around the world. “Gone Too Soon,” was inspired in part by the losses of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell.

“Those deaths hit me hard,” says Stapp. “It was heartbreaking and, for me, a lot resurfaced. Depression belittle success, steals joy, and it doesn’t discriminate.”

As someone who has received the help of others, Scott Stapp is a mentor to those who still struggle and, in gratitude, he ‘pays it forward’ through his own With Arms Wide Open Foundation, which helps military vets and their families with issues of drug addiction, PTSD-triggered mental health issues and suicide prevention. His efforts were applauded in 2017 when the Florida Association of Broadcasters gave him the Florida Service Award and in 2018, he was inducted into the Florida Music Hall of Fame.