The videos for both songs wereВ often played on MTV, further boosting the artist's popularity.

For вЂњHurts So Good,вЂќ another hit from the album, Mellencamp won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. His ode to a young couple in middle America, вЂњJack & Diane,вЂќ reached the top of the pop charts.

MellencampвЂ™s big breakthrough came in 1982 with the chart-topping album American Fool. The couple had two daughters, Teddi Jo and Justice, before divorcing in 1989. His first marriage ended in divorce, and he wed Vicky Granucci in 1981. While his career was gaining traction, Mellencamp was going through some changes in his personal life. His next effort, Nothing Matters and What If It Did (1980) had two successful singles, вЂњThis TimeвЂќ and вЂњAinвЂ™t Even Done With the Night.вЂќ upon its release with the John Cougar album in 1979. His single 'I Need a Lover' became a hit in Australia in 1978, and then a Top 30 track in the U.S. MellencampвЂ™s fortunes eventually improved. Mainstream Success: 'Jack & Diane' and 'Hurts So Good' MCA never released his second album and dropped him from the label, and Mellencamp soon parted ways with DeFries, as well. Derided by critics, Mellencamp was viewed by some as a lesser version of Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger. The first Johnny Cougar album, Chestnut Street Incident, was released by MCA in 1976, but failed to sell many copies. Mellencamp was not pleased with this decision and would later return to his birth name.

DeFries decided to change MellencampвЂ™s last name to Cougar, believing that it made him more appealing to the record-buying public. After several misfires, the burgeoning musician landedВ a manager, Tony DeFries, who had worked with the likes of David Bowie. He recorded several demos of his songs and brought them to New York City to launch his career. вЂњFan curiosity may have driven numbers initially, but his undeniable artistic proficiency created new audiences for his paintings.MellencampВ enrolled at Indiana's Vincennes UniversityВ and attempted to gain steady employment before returning to his music. вЂњSeven years ago the Museum of Art вЂ“ DeLand presented one of John MellencampвЂ™s first museum shows, and it remains one of the most well-attended in our 70-plus-year history,вЂќ Pardee says. Inspired by the 1939 Billie Holiday song that compares lynched slaves to the fruit of trees, MellencampвЂ™s canvas depicts George Floyd standing next to a skeletal man who has One piece Pattie Pardee, executive director at The Museum of Art вЂ“ DeLand, hopes to exhibit in the upcoming show is MellencampвЂ™s 2020 oil painting Strange Fruit II. Mellencamp, who is of German descent, is drawn to a style consistent with early 20th-century German expressionism, which he taps into to manifest his artistic interpretation of both beauty and pain. Taking a tone similar to that of his pensive new album are his oil paintings, for which he enlists a moody color palette and unsmiling subjects who portray sunken eyes and haunting stares. Mellencamp, 70, lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and is currently working on the release of his 25th album, for which he debuted a sample of the song вЂњI Always Lie to Strangers,вЂќ earlier this year. John Mellencamp: The Stardust Sisters, 2013, Mixed Media on Canvas

John mellencamp 2020