Mellencamp drew interest from Rod Stewart's manager, Billy Gaff, after parting ways with DeFries and was signed onto the small Riva Records label. Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, in 1977, but DeFries eventually decided against releasing the album, and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records (DeFries finally released The Kid Inside in early 1983, after Mellencamp achieved stardom). but I thought the name was pretty silly." When I objected to it, he said, 'Well, either you're going to go for it, or we're not going to put the record out.' So that was what I had to do. I was totally unaware of it until it showed up on the album jacket. I went to New York and everybody said, 'You sound like a hillbilly.' And I said, 'Well, I am.' So that's where he came up with that name. Mellencamp confessed in a 2005 interview: "That was put on me by some manager.
Mellencamp reluctantly agreed, but the album was a commercial failure, selling only 12,000 copies. DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and a handful of original songs, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, insisting that the bumpy German name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market. Music career 1976–1982: Performing as Johnny Cougar and John Cougar Īfter 18 months of traveling between Indiana and New York City in 19, Mellencamp found someone receptive to his music and image in Tony DeFries of MainMan Management. During this period, Mellencamp, who had given up drugs and alcohol before graduating from college, decided to pursue a career in music and traveled to New York City in an attempt to land a record contract. There would be four or five days like that when I would be completely gone." ĭuring his college years, Mellencamp played in several local bands, including the glitter-band Trash, which was named for a New York Dolls song, and he later got a job in Seymour installing telephones. I would lie there, listening to Roxy Music, right next to the record player so I wouldn't have to get up to flip the record over. During this time he abused drugs and alcohol, stating in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, "When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. Mellencamp attended Vincennes University, a two-year college in Vincennes, Indiana, starting in 1972. His daughter, Michelle, later became a mother at the age of 18, making Mellencamp a grandfather at 37. Mellencamp became a father in December 1970, only six months after he graduated from high school. When Mellencamp turned 18, he married his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla Esterline. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14. He was born with spina bifida, for which he had corrective surgery as an infant. Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana, on October 7, 1951. 2.8 2019–present: Small Town musical and Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.2.7 2014–2018: Plain Spoken, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies and Other People's Stuff.2.5 2004–2007: Words and Music and Freedom's Road.2.3 1991–1997: Performing as John Mellencamp.2.2 1983–1990: Performing as John Cougar Mellencamp.2.1 1976–1982: Performing as Johnny Cougar and John Cougar.Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 37 years, and as of 2022 the organization has raised over $60 million. Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Mellencamp has sold over 30 million albums in the US and over 60 million worldwide. His latest album of original songs, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, was released on January 21, 2022. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. in the U.S.A.", " Paper in Fire", and " Cherry Bomb". Mellencamp rose to fame in the 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style" that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including " Hurts So Good", " Jack & Diane", " Crumblin' Down", " Pink Houses", " Lonely Ol' Night", " Small Town", " R.O.C.K. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter.
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