Manager and label head Jeff Hanson discovered Creed — composed of Scott Stapp, guitarist Mike Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Phillips — when they were just one of many Florida bar bands, and at the time, there wasn't much to suggest they'd soon be one of the biggest bands in the world. Speaking with Hit Quarters in 2010, Hanson revealed that the band was playing a small show at a bar he owned; they had no online presence, and played a set consisting almost entirely of cover songs. Hanson, though, was impressed with the two originals they had, so he called up a producer friend, John Kurzweg, who agreed to work with the band.

The result, recorded for all of $6,000 of Hanson's money, was an early version of Creed's debut album, "My Own Prison." Local radio stations began playing a few tracks, and within a couple of months, Hanson had managed to move several thousand copies. Major labels, however, were less than impressed. "Fourteen labels passed on Creed," he shared. "I was always prepared to do it myself ... even if a label signs it, they might just shelve it." Soon, though, he found a home for Creed in Wind Up Records, a small label that he says "had the same mentality" and approach to promotion that he did — which amounted to "Don't take a no for an answer." After giving the album a remix, Wind Up re-released it in 1997 — and it took right off, eventually selling a staggering 6.7 million copies.

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