“If we have any hope for survival of the music that we all love, compassion must replace name-calling, fairness must replace greed, and we need to come together as a musical community and try to understand each other's problems.”

American singer-songwriter

John Mellencamp is an American singer-songwriter, born in 1951. Earlier in his career, he performed under the names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp. He is known for heartland rock, a style built around traditional instrumentation and straightforward songwriting. His career was later recognized with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.