From: Bill Date: Mon Oct 7, 2002 12:10 am Subject: Born to be with You: John Mellencamp JOHN MELLENCAMP Born John J. Mellencamp in Seymour, Indiana, on October 7, 1951 John Mellencamp joined his first band in the fifth grade. By 1965, he was performing R&B and rock music with one of his first bands, Crepe Soul, and, in 1966, got his first professional gigs playing frat parties for $30 a weekend with Snakepit Banana Barn before they kicked him out. Graduating from Seymour High School in 1970, Mellencamp moved to an apartment in the small town of Valonia; a year later, he formed a 60's cover band, Trash, with guitarist Larry Crane. In 1975, after graduating from Vincennes University and being laid off by the phone company, Mellencamp set out for New York with his phone company severance packet and a demo-tape featuring his version of Paul Revere & the Raider's "Kicks." While in New York, Mellencamp hooked up with David Bowie's management company, MainMan. A year later, Mellencamp recorded his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, which, without the singer's knowledge, was released under the artist's moniker "Johnny Cougar." 1977 saw Mellencamp split with MainMan and return to Bloomington, Indiana, where he recorded a second album as "Johnny Cougar," The Kid Inside; MainMan held onto the album until 1982 when it was released on the coattails of American Fool's phenomenal success. A third album, A Biography, was released in the United Kingdom in March 1978, and gave the world its first taste of "I Need a Lover," a song that would eventually become a hit for both John Mellencamp and Pat Benatar. Mellencamp and his band, The Zone, performed "I Need a Lover" and "Small Paradise" on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" in 1979. John's third U.S. album, John Cougar (which contained several tracks from a Biography) hit #64 on the American charts. 1980 saw John return to the studio to record Nothing Matters And What If It Did with legendary MG's guitarist Steve Cropper producing; the album, featuring John Waters' cult-movie actress Edith Massey on the cover, peaked at #37 on the U.S. charts. The first single, "Ain't Even Done With The Night," reached #17. Mellencamp's next record, American Fool, became the largest-selling album of 1982. For four straight weeks in October, John Mellencamp had a #1 album and two Top 10 singles at the same time, becoming the first person since John Lennon to do so. "Jack & Diane" was the #1 single in the country and "Hurts So Good" spent twenty-eight weeks on the Hot 100. Mellencamp received three Grammy nominations for American Fool and took home the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male trophy for "Hurt So Good." By 1983, MTV had helped make John Mellencamp a star and John Mellencamp had become a video music pioneer. His "Hand To Hold Onto" peaked at #9 in the U.S. and John recorded Uh-Huh, his new album in a whirlwind sixteen day marathon at The Shack, an Indiana recording studio. The "Crumblin' Down" single hit #9 on the charts as did Uh-Huh, John's second platinum album (and first to reattach "Mellencamp" to his name). "Pink Houses" reached #8 in February 1984 and "Authority Song" hit #15 in May. In July 1984, Susan Miles won MTV's "Party House With Mellencamp" competition and painted her house pink; Mellencamp wrote a screenplay with acclaimed author Larry McMurtry, and produced Mitch Ryder's comeback album, Never Kick a Sleeping Dog. In March 1985, he produced the track "Colored Lights," for the Blasters' Hard Line album. John Mellencamp, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, was instrumental in organizing the first Farm Aid concert, held September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois. During the show, Mellencamp asked the audience to write their congressmen demanding action to help American farmers, the beneficiaries of the show. There have been eleven day-long Farm Aid concerts through 1996, with all artists appearing and performing at their own expense. NARAS awarded John Mellencamp its President's Merit Award for his work on Farm Aid. At the end of 1985, Mellencamp recorded Scarecrow in his newly built studio. Dedicated to his grandfather, Speck, Scarecrow reached the #2 slot on the U.S. charts while the album's single, "Small Town," hit #6. In September 1986, Mellencamp and his band began work on The Lonesome Jubilee in his Belmont Mall studio; the album peaks at #6 while "Paper In Fire," hit #9 in October 1987. The Lonesome Jubilee was a Top 10 album for twenty-seven weeks and Mellencamp and his band went on a nine-month, ten-country tour that reached more than one and a half million fans. That same year, he contributed "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" to the charity album, A Very Special Christmas. The fall of 1988 found John Mellencamp contributing his version of "Do Re Mi" to Folkways: A Vision Shared, a Woody Guthrie/Leadbelly tribute album. He produced James McMurtry's debut album Too Long In The Wasteland and directed a video for Bob Dylan's "Political World." That year also saw him beginning to paint in earnest. He released the platinum Big Daddy in 1989 and, in 1990, began to film his screen debut in the film "Falling From Grace" (the eventual title of the screenplay he'd written with Larry McMurtry); he recorded the soundtrack album with John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, Joe Ely, and James McMurtry (Larry's son). In 1991, John Mellencamp was the recipient of the Nordhoff-Robbins Silver Clef Award for his involvement with music therapy for handicapped and autistic children. Now more than ever, he realized the profound effects that music could have on the human spirit. Whenever We Wanted was released in 1992 and quickly followed up with a marathon seven-month world tour. The album spawned the hit single, "Get a Leg Up." John finished out the year with a smokin' "MTV Unplugged" performance and the theatrical release of "Falling From Grace." He returned to the studio in 1993 to record Human Wheels which turned platinum in November. His next album, Dance Naked, was released in summer 1994 and kicked out the massively successful cover of Van Morrison''s "Wild Night," a duet between John and Me'shell Ndege'ocello. The summer 94 Mellencamp tour got off to a rousing start until it was discovered during a mid-tour physical that John had suffered a mild heart attack. A handful of remaining dates were canceled and John returned to Bloomington for some well-deserved rest and recuperation When it came time record Mr. Happy Go Lucky, John Mellencamp, the ver-restless ever-evolving artist, brought in renowned dance-mixer Junior Vasquez as producer. "Here's Junior Vasquez being part of a rock band!" exclaimed Mellencamp at the time. "It's all about, 'let's go someplace else.' It's great to put people together who have the capability and the vision to do something different when you challenge them to." Like so many of its predecessors, Mr. Happy Go Lucky went gold and platinum within weeks of its release. John Mellencamp's first retrospective album, The Best That I Could Do: 1978-1988 was released on November 18, 1997, was certified gold in December 1997 and platinum in 1998. Ever since the release of American Fool in 1982, John Mellencamp has maintained a consistent hold on the charts while his fans have remained loyally steadfast. In addition to his 36 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards from 1982-01, Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammys. Winning one in 1982. John's unflagging hold on the charts is equally impressive. In the past two decades, beginning with the chart entry of John Cougar in August 1979, Mellencamp has racked up 10 Top 10 singles, 29 Top 40 singles, 7 Top 10 albums, and 11 Top 40 albums. John Mellencamp continues to pursue his avocation as a painter. Mellencamp: Painting And Reflections, a book showcasing 75 of his works, has been released by the prestigious publishing house HarperCollins. Recently he was awarded the prestigious Billboard Century Award, joining such artist as George Harrison, Chet Atkins and James Taylor who are received the award in the past. Mellencamp continues to tour. Beginning the second leg of his 2002 tour in November with a swing across the Midwest. The summer leg was nearly a sell out at every venue. Not bad for a 51 year old Little Bastard from Indiana.... For more Mellencamp info, go to: John Mellencamp Uncle Bill;