“He stepped up, took control, fought for me and pretty much changed my life, saved my life”: Teddi Mellencamp pays tribute to her dad at iHeart Radio Awards

It was only last month that John Mellencamp dismissed the Grammys as meaning “less than nothing” and boasted to Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast that he had never attended them in his life.

But it seems that the 74-year-old singer-songwriter doesn’t feel the same way about all awards ceremonies, for he did turn up in person to iHeartRadio Music Awards last night (March 26) to accept the Icon Award.

He was introduced by his visibly-teary daughter Teddi, who paid tribute to her dad who she said: “pretty much saved my life”. Back in 2022, Teddi was diagnosed with stage two cancer, which later spread to her brain and lungs. Incredibly, after undergoing 17 surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, doctors said she had no trace of cancer last year.

She quoted Mellencamp’s lyric from Longest Days, a track on his 2008 album Life Death Love and Freedom: ‘But nothing lasts forever/ Sometimes your best efforts don’t always pay/ Sometimes when you get sick, you don't get better / That's when life is short, even at its longest days’, saying that he “wasn’t going to let that lyric define my life. He stepped up, took control, fought for me and pretty much changed my life, saved my life.”

John Mellencamp Accepts The iHeartRadio Icon Award At The 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards - YouTube

Watch On

Handing the trophy to his daughter, Mellencamp said: “I’ve been doing this 50 years and I’ve enjoyed… most of it and want to say that for all you young people who are starting out there’s nothing closer to heaven than writing a song or hearing your songs on the radio, or having a show.

So good luck to all you young people and I hope that you guys enjoy your 50 years as much as I have mine.”

Now in their thirteenth year, the iHeart Music Awards are the annual gongs dished out by the radio and media giant that used to be known as Clear Channel until 2014. Other awards last night went to Alex Warren, who won Best New Pop Artist and Song Of The Year for Ordinary, Sabrina Carpenter, who won Pop Artist of the Year, and (inevitably) Taylor Swift, who came home first in no less than five categories.