He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis said: Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience. 7 on the Billboard 200 the week of August 2, 2008. Mellencamp confessed in a 2005 interview: "That [name] was put on me by some manager. For Mellencamp, painting has always been a refuge, a solitary antidote to the hectic life of touring and performing. [27], Outside of the Plain Spoken Tour, Mellencamp's most noteworthy live performance in 2015 came on February 6, when he paid tribute to Bob Dylan at the annual MusiCares Person of the Year event by performing a piano-and-vocal rendition of "Highway 61 Revisited" (the piano was played by Troye Kinnett from Mellencamp's band). John Cougar Mellencamp AKA John Mellencamp Born: 7-Oct - 1951 Birthplace: Seymour, IN Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Singer/Songwriter Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States Executive summary: Jack and Diane "We had a lot of discussions about the rhythm and blues music of the day. [56], Johnny Cash called Mellencamp "one of the 10 best songwriters" in music. On the 1984 Uh-Huh Tour, Mellencamp opened his shows with cover versions of songs he admired growing up, including Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel", the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya", and the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina". In this article, Troye talks about several different aspects of being in John's band. News: Visit Mellencamp.com's NEWS section for all of the latest updates! Mellencamp played for over two hours and included 24 songs in his setlist on the tour. Dylan said: "And like my friend John Mellencamp would singbecause John sang some truth today'one day you get sick and you don't get better.' . A video for the song was filmed in Savannah, Georgia on June 9, 2008. "In his painting, he speaks to the voice of the heartland which is about doing the right thing and about equality and humanity and about the dignity of the farmer and the laborer. In response, Mellencamp instructed Merlis to pen a letter to NOM stating "that Mr. Mellencamp's views on same sex marriage and equal rights for people of all sexual orientations are at odds with NOM's stated agenda" and requesting that NOM "find music from a source more in harmony with your views than Mr. Mellencamp in the future. He's a Grammy-winner and the recipient of numerous awards including The Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck Awards, ASCAP Foundation's Champion Award and their highest honor the Founders Award, the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and . Album Rock Heartland Rock Roots Rock Contemporary Pop/Rock Contemporary Folk Contemporary Singer/Songwriter Rock & Roll Bar Band Hard Rock. People are worried. I'm through digging a ditch.". 1 on Billboard's Blues Album charts. He brought the No Better Than This tour to Europe in the summer of 2011, opening in Copenhagen on June 24. Within the context of what was still undeniably the sound of a rock & roll band, he began incorporating instruments more characteristic of folk and roots musicdulcimer, mandolin, fiddle, accordion, dobro, penny whistle, among them. The documentary is narrated by Academy Award winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who is an avowed Mellencamp fan.[46]. "It's very rock 'n' roll", Mellencamp said of Whenever We Wanted: "I just wanted to get back to the basics. "We realized more than ever what a big melting pot of all different types of music the '60s were. In its list of the 50 best albums of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. With some commercial success under his belt, Mellencamp had enough clout to force the record company to add his real surname, Mellencamp, to his stage moniker. Merlis also noted that the same songs had been used, with Mellencamp's approval, by John Edwards's campaign; in response, the McCain campaign ceased using the songs.[81]. Fogerty would join Mellencamp for duets on Fogerty's Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Green River" and Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow". Mellencamp was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 14, 2018. Active. In 1984, when asked about his views on drugs, he told Bill Holdship of Creem magazine, "If you want to stick needles in your arms, go ahead and fucking do it. "He is a great American musician from an agricultural heartland, which is close to our own agrarian roots," said Lois Riggins-Ezzell, the Tennessee State Museum's executive director. John Mellencamp - Artist Details. 48 on the Billboard singles chart. I sang a little bit on his record. If these works are any indication, plain painting can be extraordinarily eloquent.". This country's been hijacked. His professional music career began in earnest in 1976 when MCA Records released his first album, The Chestnut Street Incident. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, England, for nearly a year to record, promote, and tour behind 1978's A Biography. "Indigo Sunset" was written by both Mellencamp and Carter, while Mellencamp wrote the music to "My Soul's Got Wings", giving life to a previously unheard lyric written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. [4], Mellencamp attended Vincennes University, a two-year college in Vincennes, Indiana, starting in 1972. "Think about it: Isn't that where music started? Current Members Of John's Band? Mellencamp's artwork has been the focus of a number of exhibitions. [18], In September 1996, the experimental album Mr. [40] He began a 39-date theater tour in February 2019, dubbed "The John Mellencamp Show", that concluded April 30, 2019, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Background "Cherry Bomb" features a female voice (Mellencamp background singer Crystal Taliefero) and two other male voices (band members Toby Myers and Mike Wanchic) in addition to Mellencamp's on the second verse.Mellencamp told GQ magazine in 2022 what inspired him to have voices other than his own take turns singing lead: "Sly and the Family Stone. Said Carter in 2015: "The way John Mellencamp and I met was he invited me to come and sing this song he had written for the movie that Meg Ryan has coming out called Ithaca. Donovan made a record (in 1966), Sunshine Superman, and I wanted to start with that same kind of vibeEastern, very grand stories, fairy tales.". "We'd finish a show and I'd go out and have steak and french fries and eggs at 4 in the morning and then go to sleep with all that in my gut. Happy Go Lucky spawned the No. It wasn't let's go back and try to make this part fit into my song, but I wanted to capture the same feeling the way those songs used to make you feel. [41], In two separate 2018 television interviews, Mellencamp teased a musical he is working on based on his 1982 No. News: Visit Mellencamp.com's NEWS section for all of the latest updates! His single "I Need a Lover" became a hit in Australia in 1978, and then a Top 30 track in the U.S. upon its release with the John Cougar album in 1979. In 2010, Mellencamp's music was used by the National Organization for Marriage at events opposing same-sex marriage. [88][89] He donated $1.5 million to the school to build an indoor athletics training facility, which was named John Mellencamp Pavilion. They need to know that somewhere out there somebody feels the way that they do in the small towns and in the big cities. ', "JOHN MELLENCAMP'S 'PLAIN SPOKEN' CONCERT FILM HEADED TO NETFLIX", John Mellencamp Debuts at No. That's from a song of his called 'Life is Short Even on Its Longest Days.' [21], On July 8, 2014, Mellencamp released a new live album called Performs Trouble No More Live at Town Hall without any advance notice. To anybody who's said thank you to me, I say, 'You're very nice, but, really, thank you. Meanwhile, the piano-heavy "Seeing You Around" has the sound of a 1940s standard (the movie takes place during World War II) and is made all the more authentically '40s-sounding by Redbone's gruff, baritone vocals. In 1999, Mellencamp covered his own songs as well as those by Bob Dylan and the Drifters for his album Rough Harvest (recorded in 1997), one of two albums he owed Mercury Records to fulfill his contract (the other was The Best That I Could Do, a best-of collection). As of 2018, she has released thirteen albums. Forget about the play, just the songs, the way these people sing them. If you could imagine Tennessee Williams meets Stephen King. (The song would later be included, in a re-recorded version, on Mellencamp's 2017 album Sad Clowns & Hillbillies.) So I just put those songs on a shelf, and cut it back down to a single record. "This is as naked a rock record as you're going to hear," Mellencamp said of Dance Naked in a 1994 Billboard magazine interview. "I told them, I have 600 songs published. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to '60s Rock)" (No. 61) along with the popular album tracks "Hard Times for an Honest Man" and "The Real Life", both of which cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. She harmonizes with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and provides background vocals to three other songs on Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which became the ninth Top 10 album of Mellencamp's career when it debuted at No. When we walked out onstage, there wasn't a band on Earth to touch us. Mellencamp (music/lyrics) will team with Naomi Wallace (book) to form the creative team behind the still-untitled musical, with Kathleen Marshall, winner of three Tonys out of nine nominations, signed on to direct and choreograph. He is of Dutch ancestry. He returned to the concert stage in early 1995 by playing a series of dates in small Midwestern clubs under the pseudonym Pearl Doggy. On July 30, 2012, in San Jose, CA, Mellencamp was honored with the John Steinbeck Award, given to those individuals who exemplify the spirit of "Steinbeck's empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of the common man. I was totally unaware of it until it showed up on the album jacket. That same month he released the two-disc career hits retrospective Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits, which contained 35 of his radio singles (including all 22 of his Top 40 hits) along with two new tunes, "Walk Tall" and "Thank You" both produced by Babyface but written by Mellencamp. [31][32] Mellencamp and Carter's duets album, titled Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, was released on April 28, 2017. He has also been bestowed with the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Special Music Industry Humanitarian Award (1991), the Billboard Century Award (2001), the Woody Guthrie Award (2003), and the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award (2007). According to Mellencamp, "German painting remains the basic foundation for what I do same as folk music is the foundation of my songs. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Dane Clark filed for unemployment benefits last week, a career first for the Indiana musician who's played drums in John Mellencamp's band since 1996. On albums like Scarecrow (1985), The Lonesome Jubilee (1987) and Big Daddy (1989), Mellencamp helped pioneer the sound of alternative country or No Depression, music that combines the truth-telling force of hard-core country with the instrumental attack of rock & roll. Im gonna err on the side of caution, Mellencamp told Billboard Magazine. [75] Production on the musical's recorded soundtrack began on June 15, 2009, when T Bone Burnett, who served as the project's musical producer, began laying down tracks in Los Angeles for the songs Mellencamp wrote for the project. . He also revealed that the album had the working title of Strictly a One-Eyed Jack. John Mellencamp, Maggie Rogers, Tank & the Bangas: music in New Orleans for week of Feb. 23 Comedian Katt Williams is also in town this week 1 of 7 John Mellencamp performs at the 17th. "Initially, I wanted to make a record that barely had drums on it. Submit Corrections. According to Dr. Louis A. Zona, director and curator of the Butler Institute: "I was interested in the dialogue between Mellencamp's work and the Butler's more traditional collection of 19th- and 20th- century American art by masters including John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and Raphael Soyer. "I take no credit for that record. In addition to the score, Mellencamp wrote two original songs for Ithaca: "Sugar Hill Mountain" (sung by Carlene Carter) and "Seeing You Around" (sung by Leon Redbone). Along with the song and video Mellencamp released the statement that read "For my entire life I have seen the mistreatment of minorities in our country. Like Freedom's Road, Life, Death, Love and Freedom also sold 56,000 copies in its first week. Mellencamp was Ridley Scott's first choice for Brad Pitt's part in Thelma & Louise Kevin Mazur/Getty Images According to Celebrity Net Worth, John Mellencamp, like his daughter, Teddi Mellencamp, is worth millions. "I've known George since we were in the same Sunday school class. Don't let this club membership change you, John. On December 30, 2010, Mellencamp announced that he and Irwin had separated after 18 years of marriage. The soundtrack includes Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Taj Mahal, Ryan Bingham, Will Dailey and Neko Case among others singing the songs Mellencamp wrote. It may be the first-ever musical written by men for men. 10 in April 1964. This other step that people keep wanting me to take to become another level of recording artist to be Madonna? The album, which was released on July 15, 2008, was produced by T Bone Burnett. Green contributed lyrics to numerous Mellencamp radio hits and classic album tracks, including "Human Wheels", "Minutes to Memories", "Hurts So Good", "Crumblin' Down", "Rain on the Scarecrow", "Your Life is Now", and "Key West Intermezzo", in addition to songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, Hall & Oates, Jude Cole, Ricky Skaggs, Sue Medley, The Oak Ridge Boys, Percy Sledge, and Carla Olson. Mellencamp also tried to control how his band members cut loose. This one, though, is not only tolerable, it's good. John has made fiddles, hammer dulcimers, Autoharps (sic) and accordions [into] lead rock instruments on a par with electric guitar, bass, and drums, and he also brought what he calls 'a raw Appalachian' lyrical outlook to his songs. In an "Open Letter to America" on his website, Mellencamp stated: The Governor of California was removed from office based on finance troubles. He's young, and he grew up listening to Grand Funk Railroad. On August 13, 2007, Mellencamp began recording his 18th album of original material, titled Life, Death, Love and Freedom. Perhaps this time we could even have a real election but that wouldn't fit the Bush administration's "take what you want and fire people later" policy. "I was very proud and humbled to have been able to play 'Born in the U.S.A.' in a different fashion that I think was true to the feelings that Bruce had when he wrote it", Mellencamp said. Although Mellencamp had always been outspoken and adamant about not selling any of his songs to corporations to use in commercials, he changed his stance and let Chevrolet use "Our Country" in Chevy Silverado TV commercials that began airing in late September 2006. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. Later on, we wrote some really good songs together," Mellencamp told the Bloomington Herald Times shortly after Green's death. To kiss somebody's ass? Harper Collins published Paintings and Reflections, an overview of Mellencamp's earlier work as a painter, in 1998. Band Member Spotlight - Jon E. Gee. You'll get three different types of John Mellencamp, and you'll get a movie.". I'm sitting there listening to it and thinking, "Did Rosanne Cash just kill that song or what!" Freedom's Road peaked at No. He wrote about half of it after I read him the script, and then the next half after he saw the movie. Like Paper & Fire", "John Mellencamp: No "Pink Houses" for NOM", "John Mellencamp Supports Mike Bloomberg in Ad About 'Small Town' America", "John Mellencamp posts reworked version of 1964 Bob Dylan civil rights-themed protest song", "John Mellencamp's South Carolina Island Getaway", "John Mellencamp Pays $2.3M for Soho Loft", "John Mellencamp to receive honorary doctorate, speat at IU commencement", "John Mellencamp: University Honors and Awards: Indiana University", "John Mellencamp Splits From Wife of 18 Years", "Photos: Meg Ryan And John Mellencamp Step Out In Matching Shades", "Meg Ryan & John Mellencamp Split "A Couple of Weeks Ago", "Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp Are Dating, and Couldn't Look Happier", "Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp announce breakup", "Christie Brinkley and John Mellencamp Split After One Year of Dating", "Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp Are Back Together: 'They Have a Bond', "Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp Are Engaged! 2 in the fall of 1985 and spawned five Top 40 singles: "Lonely Ol' Night" and "Small Town" (both No. [77], In 2003, Mellencamp became one of the first entertainers to speak out against the Iraq War when he released the song "To Washington", which was also critical of the 2000 U.S. Presidential elections. That heart attack eventually forced him to cancel the last few weeks of the tour. Daughter Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave was a cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for three seasons. The musical toured 20 U.S. cities as a "radio play" in the fall of 2013 and toured 18 more cities across the U.S. in the fall of 2014. He's played with the likes of John Mellencamp, Paul McCartney, Sting, Bon Jovi, Elton John, The Smashing Pumpkins, MeatloafThe list goes . A CD/DVD deluxe edition, featuring the dialog, soundtrack, handwritten lyrics and a mini-documentary about the making of the musical, was released on June 4, 2013. According to Sheets, "In recent years, Mellencamp has incorporated the looser, more jangly rhythms of street art into panoramic canvases that reflect his social and political activism also present in his music. 9), "Cherry Bomb" (No. ", Mellencamp told VH1 that he was originally offered the Brad Pitt role in Thelma and Louise: "You know they used to want me to be an actor all the time and I used to get more movie role offers. In 1985, Mellencamp released Scarecrow, which peaked at No. In a September 2020 interview, Mellencamp guitarist Andy York said that 10 songs have already been recorded and mixed for the album, but a planned final session in April 2020 to complete the project was scuttled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Take an old Rascals song for example there's everything from marching band beats to soul music to country sounds in one song. Orpheus Descending will be released in February 2023. I've recorded 10 and I have 17 more to do and I'll pick 10 of the 27 songs". The musical debuted in the spring of 2012 at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, where it ran from April 4 through May 13. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee John Mellencamp has announced a massive North American tour, dubbed Live and In Person 2023. [57], Mellencamp's musical style has been described as rock,[55][58] heartland rock,[59] roots rock,[55][60] and folk rock. "I started messing around with oil paints when I was about ten but, you know, without instruction," he remembers. All of that failure and frustration had energized every guy in the band to the infantile level of, 'We're going to show 'em all they were wrong.' I wrote all the songs, 17 songs. They depict existential scenes and human beings ridden with the angst of the everyday. And then it just kept evolving and evolving and evolving, and the songs that she was bringing and the songs that I was bringingthey weren't so religious. The worst thing was that I could have gone on making records like that for hundreds of years. During the recording of Uh-Huh, Mellencamp's backing band settled on the lineup it retained for the next several albums: Kenny Aronoff on drums and percussion, Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic on guitars, Toby Myers on bass and John Cascella on keyboards. Oct 07, 2022 Today Show Interview With Harry Smith - Reissue of Scarecrow - Rizzoli Coffee Table Art Book - NY Art Academy Exhibition Read More. The album was released on September 23, 2014. In 1992 Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack at the age of 38. Learning those opened the band's vision to try new things on my songs. Surely you can find 12-to-15 songs that will work."[43]. (T Bone) produced. The record wasn't released in the United States, but it yielded a top-five hit in Australia with "I Need a Lover". The arrangements are more ambitious, with programs and loops going right along with real drums and guitars.". No Better Than This was released on August 17, 2010, and peaked at No. His original intent was to duet on the Freedom's Road track Jim Crow" with singer and activist Joan Baez. Mellencamp would leave the stage as Donovan played seven or eight of his songs (backed by Mellencamp's band) and then return to finish off his own set after Donovan departed. Mellencamp sang "Our Country" to open Game 2 of the 2006 World Series, and the song was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category, but lost to Bruce Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere". What happened was the girl he fell in love with got sent to Haiti, he went down and met with the devil and bad things happenedYou can read about Orpheus in Greek mythology."[51]. With credits that read like a top-40 list, Aronoff has cemented himself as a first-call drummer in the business of making gold records. Growing up in southern Indianawith which he is strongly identifiedMellencamp began playing in rock bands . 6), "R.O.C.K. I have 17 more songs to record. Mellencamp also performed "Our Country" at a rally for Hillary Clinton in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 3, 2008, although he never came out in support of either Obama or Clinton during the primaries. Mellencamp performed "Small Town" at a Barack Obama rally in Evansville, Indiana on April 22, the night of the 2008 Pennsylvania primary. McCain's campaign responded by pulling the songs from their playlist. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. It's one of the better songs of the last few years, actually. Following the delivery of his address, Indiana University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts. John Mellencamp - Authority Song - Rock Hall of Fame rockrollfanatic 427K views 14 years ago Almost yours: 2 weeks, on us 100+ live channels are waiting for you with zero hidden fees Dismiss. But that's a good thing. We asked why and they said, 'She can't fit here, period.' But legend is often just another word for lie. 17). Mellencamp and Green's final collaboration was "Yours Forever", a song that was included on the soundtrack to the 2000 movie, The Perfect Storm. If he has not been properly credited for that groundbreaking role, its largely because he committed the unforgivable sin of actually having hits while making innovative music. [92], Mellencamp has five children from his three marriages: daughter Michelle from his marriage to Esterline; daughters Teddi Jo and Justice from his marriage to Granucci; and sons Hud and Speck from his marriage to Irwin. With guitarist Andy York now on board as Larry Crane's full-time replacement, Mellencamp launched his Dance Naked Tour in the summer of 1994, but had a minor heart attack after a show at Jones Beach in New York on August 8 of that year. The tour finally concluded with a tour of Canada in the summer of 2012. Writes Sheets, "While Mellencamp has never been interested in whether he captures a faithful likeness of his subjects; he is after a kind of emotional realism and does follow certain "rules" of painting. "I see sadness in the world," Mellencamp says. "[25], In January 2014, Mellencamp began recording the project, which would ultimately be titled Plain Spoken and would become his 20th album of original material and 22nd studio album overall. system, Mellencamp, armed with an acoustic guitar and accompanied only by an accordionist and a violist, dubbed the jaunt "Live in the Streets: The Good Samaritan Tour". ", In 1982, Mellencamp released his breakthrough album, American Fool, which contained the singles "Hurts So Good", an uptempo rock tune that spent four weeks at No. Prior to the 198586 Scarecrow Tour, during which he covered some of the same 1960s rock and soul songs he and his band rehearsed prior to the recording of Scarecrow, Mellencamp added fiddle player Lisa Germano to his band. Columbia Records executives, who were in attendance at the benefit shows, were so impressed with Mellencamp's live renditions of "Stones in My Passway" that they convinced him to record an album of vintage American songs, which ultimately became Trouble No More. Album Rock Heartland Rock Roots Rock Contemporary Pop/Rock Contemporary Folk Contemporary Singer/Songwriter Rock & Roll Bar Band Hard Rock. Submit Corrections . Strictly a One-Eyed Jack was released on January 21, 2022. On October 6, 2008, Mellencamp won the prestigious Classic Songwriter Award at the 2008 Q Awards in London, England. 21) and "Rumble Seat" (No. "[14], In 1989, Mellencamp released the personal album Big Daddy, with the key tracks "Jackie Brown", "Big Daddy of Them All", and "Void in My Heart" accompanying the Top 15 single "Pop Singer". 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. I'm taking heat because no one's ever done this before. We had a lot of fun together when we were kids. George has written some great lyrics and we've written some great songs together, but I just couldn't do it any more. 14 single "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Mellencamp's last Top 40 hit) and "Just Another Day", which peaked at No. Toward the end, I didn't even go to the studio. ", In 1993, he released Human Wheels, and the title track peaked at No. They involve expressiveness by means of exaggeration and distortion of line and color, in favor of a simplified style intended to carry an emotional impact. "For the last four decades, John Mellencamp has captured the American experience in his songs", said ASCAP President Paul Williams. 14), and "Rooty Toot Toot" (No. At these dozen shows, which ranged in length from 45 to 60 minutes, Mellencamp covered a number of rock and folk classics and sprinkled in a few of his own songs. John Mellencamp formerly John Cougar Mellencamp, formerly-formerly John Cougar is an American original. Born . 28 single in late 1979. 1 on Top Rock Albums With 'Other People's Stuff, "JOHN MELLENCAMP ANNOUNCES 'OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF' LP, 2019 TOUR", "John Mellencamp's 'Jack & Diane'-Inspired Musical Has a Director, Choreographer", "9 Memorable Moments From Clive Davis' Grammy Museum Benefit With Elton John, H.E.R. John Mellencamp's former keyboardist Eric Franklin Rosser pleads guilty after being named the first-ever child pornography suspect placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list.