Don McLean

Coordinates	53°11′21″N23°5′45″N
Landscape	no
Name	Don McLean
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Donald McLean
Born	October 02, 1945
Instrument	Vocals, guitarbanjo, piano
Genre	Folk, Folk rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1969 – present
Url	http://www.don-mclean.com

Donald "Don" McLean, Jr. (born October 2, 1945, New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".

Both McLean's grandfather and father were also named Donald McLean. The Buccis, the family of McLean's mother, Elizabeth, came from Abruzzo in central Italy. They left Italy and settled in Port Chester, New York at the end of the 19th century. He has other extended family in Los Angeles and Boston.

Musical roots

As a young teenager, McLean became interested in folk music, particularly the Weavers' 1955 recording At Carnegie Hall. Childhood asthma meant that McLean missed long periods of school, and although he slipped back in his studies, his love of music was allowed to flourish. He often performed shows for family and friends. By age 16 he had bought his first guitar (a Harmony acoustic archtop with a sunburst finish) and begun making contacts in the music business, becoming friends with folk singer Erik Darling, a latter-day member of the Weavers. McLean recorded his first studio sessions (with singer Lisa Kindred) while still in prep school.

McLean graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1963, and briefly attended Villanova University, dropping out after four months. While at Villanova he became friends with singer/songwriter Jim Croce.

After leaving Villanova, McLean became associated with famed folk music agent Harold Leventhal, and for the next six years performed at venues and events including the Bitter End and the Gaslight Cafe in New York, the Newport Folk Festival, the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Concurrently, McLean attended night school at Iona College and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in 1968. He turned down a scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School in favour of becoming resident singer at Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY.

In 1968, with the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, McLean began reaching a wider public, with visits to towns up and down the Hudson River. He learned the art of performing from his friend and mentor Pete Seeger. McLean accompanied Seeger on his Clearwater boat trip up the Hudson River in 1969 to protest environmental pollution in the river. During this time McLean wrote songs that would appear on his first album, Tapestry. McLean co-edited the book Songs and Sketches of the First Clearwater Crew with sketches by Thomas B. Allen for which Pete Seeger wrote the foreword. Seeger and McLean sang "Shenandoah" on the 1974 Clearwater album.

Recording career

Early breakthrough

McLean recorded his first album, Tapestry, in 1969 in Berkeley, California during the student riots. After being rejected by 34 labels, the album was released by Mediarts and attracted good reviews but little notice outside the folk community.

McLean's major break came when Mediarts was taken over by United Artists Records thus securing for his second album, American Pie, the promotion of a major label. The album spawned two No. 1 hits in the title song and "Vincent". American Pie's success made McLean an international star and renewed interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release.

American Pie

Don McLean's most famous composition, "American Pie", is a sprawling, impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959. The song would popularize the expression "The Day the Music Died" in reference to this event. McLean has stated that the lyrics are also somewhat autobiographical and present an abstract story of his life from the mid-1950s until the time he wrote the song in the late 1960s. Singer Don McLean is said to have composed his "American Pie" sitting at a table in the Tin & Lint, a bar on Caroline Street, in 1969. A plaque marks the table today.

The song was recorded on 26 May 1971 and a month later received its first radio airplay on New York’s WNEW-FM and WPLJ-FM to mark the closing of The Fillmore East, a famous New York concert hall. "American Pie" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard magazine charts for four weeks in 1972, and remains McLean's most successful single release. The single also topped the Billboard Easy Listening survey. It is also the longest song to reach No. 1 with a running time of 8:36. Some stations played only part one of the original split-sided single release.

Twenty-nine years later, pop singer Madonna released a truncated dance-pop cover version of the song. In response, Don McLean said: "I have received many gifts from God but this is the first time I have ever received a gift from a goddess."

In 2010, John Ondrasik - the singer-songwriter known as Five for Fighting - released the single "Slice" from the album of the same name. The song is a tribute to "American Pie": a nostalgic look at how it once captivated our collective ears, minds and voices, and an expression of hope that our increasing individuality hasn't dulled our ability to 'sing the same song'.

In 2001 "American Pie" was voted No. 5 in a poll of the 365 Songs of the Century compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The top five were: "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland, "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin and "American Pie".

Subsequent recordings

McLean’s third album, Don McLean, included the song "The Pride Parade" that provides an insight into McLean’s immediate reaction to stardom. McLean told Melody Maker magazine in 1973 that Tapestry was an album by someone previously concerned with external situations. American Pie combines externals with internals and the resultant success of that album makes the third one (Don McLean) entirely introspective."

The fourth album, Playin' Favorites was a top-40 hit in the UK in 1973 and included the Irish folk classic, "Mountains of Mourne" and Buddy Holly’s "Everyday", a live rendition of which returned McLean to the UK Singles Chart. McLean said, "The last album (Don McLean) was a study in depression whereas the new one (Playin' Favorites) is almost the quintessence of optimism, with a feeling of "Wow, I just woke up from a bad dream."

1977 saw a brief liaison with Arista Records that yielded the Prime Time album before, in 1978, McLean’s career changed direction and he started recording in Nashville with Elvis Presley’s backing singers, The Jordanaires, and many of Elvis’s musicians. The result was Chain Lightning and the international Number 1, "Crying". The early 1980s saw further chart successes in the US with "Since I Don't Have You", a new recording of "Castles in the Air" and "It's Just the Sun".

In 1987, the release of the country-based Love Tracks album gave rise to the hit singles "Love in My Heart" (a top-10 in Australia), "Can't Blame the Wreck on the Train" (US country No. 49), and "Eventually". The latter two songs were written by Houston native Terri Sharp.

In 1991, EMI reissued the "American Pie" single in the United Kingdom and McLean performed on Top of the Pops.

In 1992, previously unreleased songs became available on Favorites and Rarities while Don McLean Classics featured new studio recordings of "Vincent" and "American Pie".

Don McLean has continued to record new material including River of Love in 1995 on Curb Records and, more recently, the albums You've Got to Share, Don McLean Sings Marty Robbins and The Western Album on his own Don McLean Music label.

A new album, Addicted to Black, was released in May 2009 and is available for purchase at his North American concert performances and is available on his website. In addition, McLean is expecting to tour in Europe and Australia in 2010.

Other songs

McLean's other well-known songs include:

"And I Love You So" was covered by Elvis Presley, Helen Reddy, Shirley Bassey, Glen Campbell, Engelbert Humperdinck, Howard Keel and a 1973 hit for Perry Como

"Vincent", a tribute to the 19th century Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh. Although it only reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, it proved to be a huge hit worldwide. It was a #1 hit single in the UK Singles Chart. This song was covered by NOFX on their album titled: 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records, and also appears on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation Survival of the Fattest. Vincent was also covered by Josh Groban on his 2001 debut album. "Castles in the Air", which McLean recorded twice. His 1981 re-recording was a top-40 hit, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1981. "Wonderful Baby", a tribute to Fred Astaire that Astaire himself recorded. Primarily rejected by pop stations, it reached #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey.

"Superman's Ghost", a tribute to George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on television in the 1950s

"The Grave", a song that McLean had written about the Vietnam War, was covered by George Michael in 2003 in protest against the Iraq War.

The American Pie album features a version of Psalm 137, entitled Babylon. The song was arranged by McLean and Lee Hays (of The Weavers). Boney M had a number one hit in the UK with a similar song in 1978 under the title Rivers of Babylon, which was not based on this one, although using the same text from Psalm 137.

In 1980, McLean had an international number one hit with a cover of the Roy Orbison classic, "Crying". It was only after the record became a success overseas that it was released in the U.S. The single hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. Breckman and McLean have penned competing renditions of the origins of this feud, both of which are available online.

Later work and honors

In 1991, Don McLean returned to the UK top 20 with a re-issue of "American Pie".

Iona College conferred an honorary doctorate on McLean in 2001.

In February 2002, "American Pie" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2004, McLean was inaugurated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Garth Brooks presented the award and said "Don McLean his work, like the man himself is very deep and very compassionate. His pop anthem 'American Pie' is a cultural phenomenon".

In 2007, the biography The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs was published. Biographer Alan Howard conducted extensive interviews for this, the only book-length biography of the often reclusive McLean to date.

In 2008, New York City radio station Q104.3 FM WAXQ named Don McLean's "American Pie" number 37 in their 2008 Top 1,043 Songs Of All Time listener-generated countdown.

Discography

Albums

^AChain Lightning also peaked at #3 on the RPM Country Albums chart in Canada.

Compilations

Singles

;Notes

^AThe original version of "Castles in the Air" was included on the Tapestry album. In February 1971, it was released as the first single from the album and reached #40 on the Billboard Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary chart. After the success of the "American Pie" single, "Castles in the Air" was included as the B-side to its follow-up, "Vincent", and received enough radio airplay to reach the Hot 100 chart as a "flip". McLean's 1981 version of the song first appeared on his album Believers, and later replaced the original version on some copies of Tapestry.

Rarities

Quotation

NME - June 1972

References

External links

The Official Web Site of Don McLean and American Pie

[ Allmusic Entry]

Tom Redmond - Working with Chet Atkins: an interview with Don McLean

Category:1945 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:People from Westchester County, New York Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Scottish descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Pantheists Category:Iona College (New York) alumni Category:Ballad musicians Category:People from New Rochelle, New York