Creed - Death Dive Brought Boozy Creed Star Back To Life

A four-storey fall from a hotel balcony in 2006 gave CREED star SCOTT STAPP his life back, according to the rocker himself.

As the third anniversary of his near-death dive comes around next month (Nov09), the singer is back with the band he quit and insists he's born-again after years of binge drinking, substance abuse and womanising turned him into a wreck.

The Christian rock star recalls, "I just about lost everything that day. I think maybe in a weird way I was trying to."

Stapp tells Details magazine he was staying in a penthouse suite at the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida when he stumbled out onto the balcony in an alcohol and drug-fuelled haze.

He adds, "I was alone up on the balcony, and in my deranged mind I thought I heard someone calling my name and talking about a party downstairs. I got up on the rail, leaned over, and slipped off. I fell four storeys and landed on my head. I'm fortunate to be alive, and there's probably 20 doctors at the trauma centre in Miami that would say the same thing.

"Thank God it all ended that day. That guy died."

Stapp insists he's been clean and sober ever since, studying the Bible to keep him straight.

He says, "I'll still have a glass of wine with my wife on special occasions, but no drugs, no weekend drinking.

"I've made a decision to seek and follow love. As the Bible says, 'God is love.' It's a lifestyle. I was in this bubble for a while. Certain things that are abnormal became normal. My mind needed to be reprogrammed. I had to get the garbage out."

And to make sure he never forgets the day he nearly died and then turned his life around, the rocker has the date 'November 18 2006' tattooed on his arm, around a steel spiked crucifix.