Don McLean Tickets

Short Biography
nullDon McLean is one of America's most enduring singer-songwriters and is forever associated with his classic hits ‘American Pie' and ‘Vincent (Starry Starry Night)'. Since first hitting the charts in 1971, Don has amassed over 40 gold and platinum recor s world-wide and, in 2004, was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by artists from every musical genre, most notably Madonna's No. 1 recording of ‘American Pie' in 2000 and George Michael's version of ‘The Grave' in 2003, sung in protest at the Iraq War.

DonMcLean Discography
Don McLean (b. 2 Oct 1945, New Rochelle, NY) - talented singer-songwriter who began in folk music, performing free on behalf of Pete Seeger's efforts to clean up the Hudson River.  His first album had been turned down by several labels because of his insistence on retaining his own publishing, but Tapestry '70 was issued on Media Arts, soon taken over by UA; of the songs "And I Love You So" was covered by Perry Como for a Top 30 hit '73, while his performance of "Empty Chairs" inspired "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox) a Grammy winner and a huge hit for Roberta Flack '73.

Second album American Pie '71 incl. irresistibly catchy title track, said to have been inspired by the death of Buddy Holly, but also a sentimental song about America that could be embraced by everybody as the USA reeled from Vietnam and Watergate: the 8.5 minute track as a two-sided single was no.1 for seven weeks and even pulled the first LP into the charts.   "Vincent/Castles In The Air" from the same LP was a no. 12 hit and "Vincent" (no.1 in the UK) was being played daily in the entrance to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

Third album Don McLean '72 was a no. 23 LP, incl. top 30 "Dreidel".

"Playin' Favorites"  '73 got back to folk/country roots and did not chart in the USA, but incl. "Everyday", top 40 single in the UK.

Homeless Brother  '74 was a no. 120 LP, incl. "The Legend of Andrew McCrew", a true story about a black hobo who died aged 13, was exhibited in carnivals as a ‘petrified man', not buried until '73.

Two-disc, Solo  '76 incl. all the hits, followed by a switch to Arista label for Prime Time '77.

With the coast clear he had hits again on Millenium label: top 30 LP Chain Lightning '81 incl. no. 5 cover of old Roy Orbison hit, ‘Crying' (no. 1 in the UK), also top 30 hit, ‘Since I Don't Have You'.

Believers  '82 made top 200 LP's incl. new top 30 version of ‘Castles In The Air' (also minor hit in the UK).

Dominion  '83 on EMI/UK was two-disc set made in concert at London's Dominion Theatre.

Love Tracks '87 was on Capitol (incl. ‘Eventually').

Classics, Headroom and The River of Love  were on Curb CD's.

Don McLean was asked by President Clinton to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on New Year's Eve 1999 and attended to the Founders Dinner at the White House, honouring artists and industrialists.

 "Starry, Starry Nights"  was a PBS TV special filmed at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, with guests incl. Nanci Griffith and Garth Brooks and first broadcast in 2000.

Don formed Don McLean Records in 2001: first releases were Don McLean Sings Marty Robbins and 2-CD Starry, Starry Night from the PBS special.

Madonna had covered ‘American Pie' for a huge international hit and Weird Al Yankovic rewrote it as ‘The Saga Begins' to send up Star Wars.  Some people were surprised that Don allowed Yankovic's record, as though he didn't have a sense of humour; in fact a cultural artefact can only be used for this kind of affectionate satire if it is deeply loved in the first place.

Finally, ‘American Pie' was named the fifth greatest song of the 20th Century by the NEA-RIAA (after, ‘Over The Rainbow', ‘White Christmas', ‘This Land Is My Land' and ‘Respect').

In 2002 Don McLean received an honorary doctorate from Iona College on "Don McLean" Day in New Rochelle, NY.

In 2004 Don was inducted in "Song Writers Hall of Fame" in New York.

In-depth Biography
Famed for -- and ultimately defined by -- his perennial "American Pie," singer/songwriter Don McLean was born October 2, 1945, in New Rochelle, New York. After getting his start in the folk clubs of New York City during the mid-'60s, McLean struggled for a number of years, building a small following through his work with Pete Seeger on the Clearwater, a sloop that sailed up and down the eastern seaboard to promote environmental causes.

Still, McLean was primarily singing in elementary schools and the like when, in 1970, he wrote a musical tribute to painter Vincent Van Gogh; the project was roundly rejected by a number of labels, although MediaArts did offer him a contract to record a number of his other songs under the title Tapestry. The album fared poorly, but Perry Como earned a hit with a cover of the track "And I Love Her So," prompting United Artists to pick up McLean's contract. He returned in 1971 with American Pie; the title track, an elegiac eight-and-a-half-minute folk-pop epic inspired by the tragic death of Buddy Holly, became a number one hit, and the LP soon reached the top of the charts as well.

The follow-up, "Vincent," was also a smash, and McLean even became the subject of the Roberta Flack hit "Killing Me Softly with His Song"; however, to his credit -- and to his label's horror -- the singer refused to let the success of "American Pie" straitjacket his career. Subsequent records like 1972's self-titled effort and 1974's Playin' Favorites deliberately avoided any attempts to re-create the "American Pie" flavor; not surprisingly, his sales plummeted, and the latter release even failed to chart. After 1974's Homeless Brother and 1976's Solo, United Artists dropped McLean from his contract; he resurfaced on Arista the next year with Prime Time, but when it, too, fared poorly, he spent the next several years without a label.

McLean enjoyed a renaissance of sorts with 1980's Chain Lightning; his first Top 30 LP in close to a decade, it spawned a Top Ten smash with its cover of Roy Orbison's classic "Crying," and his originals "Castles in the Air" and "Since I Don't Have You" both also reached the Top 40. However, 1981's Believers failed to sustain the comeback, and after 1983's Dominion, he was again left without benefit of label support. McLean spent the remainder of his career primarily on the road, grudgingly restoring "American Pie" to his set list and drawing inspiration from the country market; in addition to a number of live sets and re-recordings of old favorites, he also returned to the studio for projects like 1990's For the Memories (a collection of classic pop, country, and jazz covers) and 1995's River of Love (an LP of original material). ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi