John Mellencamp

ARTISTS

John Mellencamp

Born on October 7, 1951, in Seymour, Indiana, rock singer-songwriter-guitarist John Mellencamp started his first band at age 14. He moved to New York to pursue a music career at 24. He landed a record deal with MCA and released his debut, Chestnut Street Incident, in 1976. Upon the album’s release, however, he was furious to discover that his manager had changed his name to Johnny Cougar. Mellencamp was eventually able to change his name to John Cougar Mellencamp after the breakthrough success of 1982’s American Fool, propelled by the No. 1 hit “Jack and Diane.”

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