Creed Bratton

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

Early life and education Bratton was born William Charles Schneider in Los Angeles, and grew up in Coarsegold, California, a small town near Yosemite National Park.

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 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.

The Grass Roots

Producers/songwriters P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri 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 military draft during this time, and quickly recruited Rob Grill, 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, 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 on Sunday, June 11, 1967, during the "Summer of Love" as their top-ten hit "Let's Live for Today" was hitting the airwaves. Though the music festival occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival, it was not filmed as was the latter festival (see List of electronic music festivals). 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 in April 1969, Bratton was asked to leave the band.

Acting career

Bratton began to pursue an acting career in 1975. He has appeared in films such as Mask and Heart Like a Wheel. He was a cast member, playing a fictional version of himself, on NBC's Emmy and SAG award-winning The Office. In a deleted scene from the episode "Booze Cruise", he speaks about his time with the Grass Roots. In Season 3 Episode 10 "A Benihana Christmas", 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", 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", 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, 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 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, written, produced and directed by Paul Bunnell; I Am Ben, written, produced and directed by Mathew Brady and Gaelan Connell; and Terri produced by David Guy Levy. Terri was selected by the Sundance Film Festival 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, a biography set during the American Civil War. In 2025, he appeared in a guest role in the animated series Smiling Friends and will appear in the A24 film Primetime.

Personal life Bratton has been married twice. He has two children.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Video games

Discography

Singles

Release date Title Flip side Record Label Chart Positions US Billboard US Cashbox UK 1967 Let's Live for Today Depressed FeelingDunhill 8 5 Things I Should Have Said Tip Of My Tongue Dunhill 23 36 Wake Up, Wake Up No Exit Dunhill 68 61 1968 Melody For You Hey Friend Dunhill 123 120 Feelings Here's Where You BelongDunhill 118 Midnight Confessions ++ Who Will You Be Tomorrow Dunhill 5 5 Bella Linda Hot Bright Lights Dunhill 28 20 1969 Melody For You All Good Things Come To An EndDunhill Lovin' Things You And Love Are The Same Dunhill 49 35 The River Is Wide (You Gotta) Live For Love Dunhill 31 16

++ – Gold Record – RIAA Certification

Albums

Release date Title Record Label Chart PositionsUS Billboard US Cashbox UK 1967 Let's Live for Today Dunhill 75 69 1968 Feelings Dunhill Golden Grass ++ Dunhill 25 25 1969 Lovin' Things Dunhill 73 58 2001 Chasin' The BallKindred The 80s Kindred 2002 Coarsegold Kindred 2008 Creed Bratton Kindred 2010 Bounce Back Kindred 2011 Demo Kindred 2018 While The Young Punks Dance Alien Chicken 2020 Slightly Altered Alien Chicken 2024Tao Pop

++ – Gold Record – RIAA Certification