Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider; February 8, 1943) is an American actor and musician. A former member of the rock band

the Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums and ...

, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), which earned him five nominations for the

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Comedy Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest ensemble acting achievements in comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works ...

Early life and education

Bratton was born William Charles Schneider in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and grew up in

Coarsegold, California Coarsegold, California, is a census-designated place in Madera County, situated in the central part of the state. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 4,144. Coarsegold holds historical significance as Madera County's last surviving "go ...

, a small town near

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

Musical career

Early years

Bratton adopted his new name while on a global excursion as a traveling musician. He traveled through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He played guitar at a large folk festival in Israel, appearing with his group the Young Californians. Fellow American and guitarist

Warren Entner Warren Entner (born 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, organist and guitarist for the rock and roll band The Grass Roots. He subsequently became a manager for several successful heavy metal/rock groups. Overview Entner is best known ...

witnessed Bratton's performance and asked to give him a call when he got back to the United States. In 1966, they formed a partnership and recruited the remaining members needed for their group, the 13th Floor. Bratton played lead guitar, Rick Coonce played drums, Entner played rhythm guitar and Kenny Fukomoto played bass. The Young Californians recorded a demo and sent it to Dunhill, a new record company headed by

Lou Adler Lester Louis Adler (born December 13, 1933) is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of high-profile musical artists, including The G ...

The Grass Roots

Producers/songwriters P. F. Sloan and

Steve Barri Steve Barri (born Steven Barry Lipkin; February 23, 1942, New York City) is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Early in his career, Barri was a staff writer with Dunhill Records. He produced such huge hits as " Dizzy" by Tommy R ...

heard the demo and liked it. They needed new band members for a folk-rock group that they had created in 1965. The 13th Floor lost their bass player to the draft during this time, and quickly recruited

Rob Grill Robert Frank Grill (November 30, 1943 – July 11, 2011) was an American musician and songwriter, best known as lead singer and bassist of the rock and roll group The Grass Roots. Though not a founding member, Grill was the longest-serving membe ...

, changing the band's name to the "Grass Roots" for prior name recognition. The group went straight to the Top 10 with the song " Let's Live for Today" in 1967 and toured the United States. Iconic hit songs such as " Midnight Confessions" cemented the group's standing as major contributors to the rock-music scene. The Grass Roots had top songwriters offering their best songs to them and wrote many songs themselves. For their major songs, music on the recordings was played by the LA studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Bratton co-wrote the songs "Beatin' Round the Bush", "No Exit" and "Hot Bright Lights", and self-composed "Dinner for Eight" and "House of Stone". He sang lead vocals on "This Precious Time" and "Dinner for Eight". Bratton played with the group on its albums '' Let's Live for Today'', ''

Feelings According to the '' APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations, thoughts, or images evoking them". The term ''feeling'' is closel ...

'', '' Golden Grass'' (a compilation) and '' Lovin' Things''. Three of the albums charted, and ''Golden Grass'' received a gold record certification. He took part in ten of the group's singles, eight of which charted; "Midnight Confessions" received a gold record certification. The Grass Roots played at the

Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival The KFRC (defunct), KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival was an event held June 10 and 11, 1967, at the 4,000-seat Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre high on the south face of Mount Tamalpais in ...

on Sunday, June 11, 1967, during the "

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

" as their top-ten hit "Let's Live for Today" was hitting the airwaves. Though the music festival occurred before the

Monterey Pop Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16-18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Ex ...

, it was not filmed as was the latter festival (see

List of electronic music festivals The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitars and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (E ...

). On Sunday, October 27, 1968, the group played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December as the top-ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was becoming popular. In April 1969, Bratton became frustrated by Dunhill's refusal to allow the band to write its own songs and play the instruments on its records (although the members did play alone at concerts). After a disastrous appearance at the

Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore ...

in April 1969, Bratton was asked to leave the band.

Solo years

In 2001 and 2002, Bratton released three albums showcasing his solo recordings since the 1960s with the assistance of Peter White. In 2007, he presented an induction award to the Wrecking Crew at the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2008, he released another album of new music with producer

Jon Tiven Jon Tiven (born January 3, 1955) is an American composer, guitarist, record producer, and music journalist. He has produced albums by Wilson Pickett, Frank Black and Don Covay as well as a series of tribute albums paying tribute to the songwrit ...

. In 2010, Bratton released an album titled "Bounce Back" with producer

Dave Way Dave Way is a Grammy Award winning American producer, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. He has worked with Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Pink, Iron And Wine, Fall Out Boy, Al Green, 21 Pilots, Yebba, Vic ...

. In 2011, Bratton released an album of greatest hits from his first three solo albums, titled "Demo". In 2010 and 2012, Bratton performed live at the

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival. In 2013, Bratton released an original work in three acts as an audio biography titled ''Tell Me About It''. Songs ranged from those recently written to pieces that he had written decades before. Bratton states that he listens to much jazz and classical music. On January 18, 2014, Bratton joined his friend

Zachary Scot Johnson Zachary Scot Johnson is an American singer-songwriter, born in 1982 in Racine, Wisconsin, Racine, Wisconsin, United States. He attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin from 2001 through 2006, where he was a triple major student in Musi ...

for a duet for the 500th consecutive day of the thesongadayproject on YouTube.

Acting career

Bratton began to pursue an acting career in 1975. He has appeared in films such as ''

Mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

'' and ''

Heart Like a Wheel ''Heart Like a Wheel'' is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and re ...

''. He was a cast member, playing a fictional version of himself, on NBC's

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

and

SAG SAG, SAg or sag may refer to: Land formations * Sag (geology), or ''trough'', a depressed, persistent, low area * Sag pond, a body of water collected in the lowest parts of a depression People * Ivan Sag (1949–2013), American linguist ...

award-winning ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

''. In a deleted scene from the episode "

Booze Cruise In British slang, a booze cruise is a brief trip from Britain to France or Belgium with the intent of taking advantage of lower prices, and buying personal supplies of (especially) Alcoholic beverage, alcohol or tobacco in bulk quantities. This ...

", he speaks about his time with the Grass Roots. In Season 3 Episode 10 "

A Benihana Christmas "A Benihana Christmas" is the tenth and eleventh episodes of the third season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'' and the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth episodes overall. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by ...

", Creed sings a karaoke rendition of his song "Spinnin' N Reelin'" during the Christmas party. In a deleted scene from Season 3 Episode 21 "

Product Recall "Product Recall" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American comedy television series '' The Office'' and the show's forty-ninth episode overall. The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton b ...

", the reporter from the Scranton Times recognizes him as Creed Bratton from the band the Grass Roots and mentions that he wrote his obituary. In the episode "

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

", he says "he never goes bankrupt", as all his debt "is always transferred to William Charles Schneider" (which is his birth name), while holding an allegedly fake passport on camera. In the

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, ...

, his character is revealed to be a part of Grass Roots, and was arrested after being a wanted fugitive living at the Dunder Mifflin office. This episode also features Bratton performing his song "All the Faces". In 2008, he appeared in a short film with

Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician and actor, best known for being a member of Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He is also a member of Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band. Early life Kyle Richard Gass was ...

titled ''Just One Of The Gynos'', which won an award for best short film at the 2008 Malibu International Film Festival. He appeared in the feature film ''Labor Pains'' in 2009. His recent film projects are ''

The Ghastly Love of Johnny X ''The Ghastly Love of Johnny X'' is a 2012 American musical science fiction comedy film written, produced, and directed by Paul Bunnell. It stars Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, and De Anna Joy Brooks, Reggie Bannister, Les Williams, Jed Rowen and fe ...

'', written, produced and directed by Paul Bunnell; ''I Am Ben'', written, produced and directed by Mathew Brady and Gaelan Connell; and ''

Terri Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa. Notable people with the name include: *Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter *Terri S. Armstrong, American sc ...

'' produced by David Guy Levy. ''Terri'' was selected by the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

2011 to appear in the US dramatic competition. It was one of only 16 films selected from 1,102 submissions to the US dramatic category. In 2012, he appeared as special guest star in ''Staged'' with Brandon Olive who appeared with him in ''Just One Of The Gynos''. In 2013, he starred in ''

Saving Lincoln ''Saving Lincoln'' is a 2013 American historical drama film about Ward Hill Lamon, a friend of President Abraham Lincoln, and follows their overlapping legal careers in Illinois prior to the American Civil War. Lamon accompanied Lincoln to Wash ...

,'' a biography set during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Video games

Discography

Singles

++ - Gold Record -

RIAA Certification In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) operates an awards program based on the certified number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets.RIAA Certification In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) operates an awards program based on the certified number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets.About his new record, finale of The Office (2013)
at Rocker Magazine
About his career as an actor and musician (2015)
at Submerge Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Bratton, Creed 1943 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male singer-songwriters American folk guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists Singer-songwriters from California Male actors from Los Angeles People from Coarsegold, California Guitarists from Los Angeles 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians 20th-century American guitarists Comedians from Los Angeles 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American male comedians