However, Johnny Cougar (1979) spawned the Top 40 hit "I Need a Lover," which also became an AOR hit for Pat Benatar a few years later. Two years later, he signed with Riva Records, releasing A Biography (1978) to little attention. The fiasco of his first album was enough to sour Mellencamp on the industry for the remainder of his career. Chestnut Street Incident was a bomb and MCA immediately dropped the singer. Upon receiving the finished album in 1976, he was infuriated to learn that DeFries had billed the singer as Johnny Cougar. Mellencamp recorded an album of covers called Chestnut Street Incident. In New York, Mellencamp became a client of David Bowie's manager, Tony DeFries, who signed him to a lucrative deal with MainMan/MCA. By the time he was 24, he had decided to move to New York City to attempt to break into the music industry. When he was 17, he eloped with Priscilla Esterline, his pregnant girlfriend, and proceeded to try to support his family by working a series of blue-collar jobs. He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play throughout his teens. As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law. As a child in Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby. Furthermore, he sustained his popularity over the ensuing decades, only occasionally experiencing dips in record sales.Ī prolonged, acclaimed career seemed an impossibility when Mellencamp released his first album under the name Johnny Cougar in 1976. Scarecrow, released in 1985, fulfilled his wish of being taken seriously, and his subsequent records were greeted warmly by critics. For some artists, this would be easy to ignore, but Mellencamp had the desire to be a serious social commentator, chronicling the times and trials of Midwestern baby boomers. While he had the record sales, it took several years before rock critics took him seriously. His musical development coincided with his growth in popularity - by the time "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane" became hits in 1982, Mellencamp had created his own variation of the heartland rock of Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Bob Seger. As his career progressed, his music became more distinctive, developing into a Stonesy blend of hard rock and folk-rock. Mellencamp began his career in the late '70s as a Bruce Springsteen clone called Johnny Cougar. Of course, he never made it easy on himself. Biography Throughout his career, John Mellencamp has had to fight, whether it was for the right to record under his own name or for respect as an artist.
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