Editing John Mellencamp (section)

==Early life==
Mellencamp was born in [[Seymour, Indiana]], on October 7, 1951.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Mellencamp {{!}} Songwriters Hall of Fame |url=https://www.songhall.org/profile/john_mellencamp |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=www.songhall.org}}</ref> He is of [[German Americans|German]] and [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]] ancestry. He was born with [[spina bifida]], for which he had corrective surgery as an infant. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul, when he was 14.<ref name="Yahoo Music">{{cite web|url=http://music.yahoo.com/ar-257234-bio--John-Mellencamp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516061334/http://music.yahoo.com/ar-257234-bio--John-Mellencamp|url-status=dead|title=John Mellencamp: Biography on Yahoo! Music|archive-date=May 16, 2008}}</ref>

Mellencamp attended Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, starting in 1972. 

During his college years, Mellencamp played in several local bands, including the [[glam rock]] band Trash, which was named for a [[New York Dolls]] song, and he later got a job in Seymour installing telephones.<ref name=Troubadour>{{Cite book |last=MASCIOTRA |first=DAVID |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2fzkpw5 |title=Mellencamp: American Troubadour | year=2015 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2fzkpw5 |jstor=j.ctv2fzkpw5 |isbn=978-0-8131-9558-2 |s2cid=247995900 }}</ref> During this period, Mellencamp decided to pursue a career in music and traveled to New York City in an attempt to land a record contract.<ref name=Troubadour/>