John Cougar Mellencamp
b. 7 October 1951, Seymour, Indiana, USA. Mellencamp survived an early phase as a glam-rocker to become one of America's most successful mainstream rock singers of the past two decades. He played in local band Trash with guitarist Larry Crane (b. 1953), who remained with Mellencamp throughout the '80s. In 1976, David Bowie's manager Tony de Fries signed him to a recording deal. His name was changed to Johnny Cougar, he was given a James Dean-style image and a debut album rush-released. CHESTNUT STREET INCIDENT, released as a demo and consisting of mainly cover versions, was credited to Johnny Cougar and did not chart. He left MainMan and moved back to Indiana, formed the Zone and recorded the self-penned THE KID INSIDE. Shortly afterwards he signed to Riva Records, owned by Rod Stewart's manager Billy Gaff who presented him as ‘the next Bruce Springsteen’. His first chart action came courtesy of JOHN COUGAR, which included the US Top 30 single I Need A Lover in December 1979. Cougar and his band toured constantly, a strategy which paid off in 1982 when AMERICAN FOOL headed the US album chart while both Hurts So Good and Jack And Diane were million-sellers. 
The following year he became John Cougar Mellencamp, eventually dropping Cougar in 1989. With many of his songs dealing with social problems, Mellencamp was one of the organisers of the Farm Aid series of benefit concerts. His straight-ahead rock numbers also brought a string of big hits in the second half of the '80s. Among the most notable were Small Town, R.O.C.K. In The USA, Paper In Fire (1987) and Cherry Bomb (1988). LONESOME JUBILEE used fiddles and accordions to illustrate bleak portraits of America in recession, while Pop Singer from BIG DADDY expressed Mellencamp's disillusionment with the current state of the music business. He took time off to concentrate on painting but returned with WHENEVER WE WANTED, which recaptured the muscular rock sound of his earlier albums. In 1991, Mellencamp directed and starred in the film Falling From Grace. He has continued to hit the US charts with amazing rapidity and, up until early 1991, he had charted 21 singles in the US Hot 100 of which nine were Top 10, with one number 1, Jack And Diane in 1982.