Mark Tremonti

Since his early years with Creed, Tremonti has received positive recognition as a guitarist and songwriter and has received a number of accolades, including one Grammy Award for Creed\'s single "With Arms Wide Open." He was also named "Guitarist of the Year" for three consecutive years by Guitar World, and in 2011 he was listed in Total Guitar magazine as the fourth greatest heavy metal guitarist of all time.\n', ' Tremonti was born on April 18, 1974, in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in a Roman Catholic family of Italian descent in Grosse Pointe, just outside Detroit, for most of his childhood before moving to Wilmette, Illinois. He began to become enthralled with music, and bought his first guitar at the age of eleven. When he was fifteen, his family moved again to Orlando, Florida, where he enrolled in Lake Highland Preparatory School. During this time, his mother was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, which left Tremonti devastated.\n', ' After graduation, he moved to Clemson, South Carolina to attend Clemson University to major in finance. After his freshman year in college, he moved back to Florida to enroll in Florida State University, where he was reunited with his then future Creed band mate Scott Stapp, whom Tremonti had known in high school.\n', '