Don MClean
Don MClean can be booked through this site. Don MClean entertainment booking site. Don MClean
is available for public concerts and events. Don MClean can be booked for
private events and Don MClean can be booked for corporate events and
meetings through this Don MClean booking page.
Unlike most middle agents that would mark
up the performance or appearance fee for Don MClean, we act as YOUR agent in
securing Don MClean at the best possible price. We go over the rider for
Don MClean and work directly with Don MClean or the responsible agent for
Don MClean to secure the talent for your event. We become YOUR agent,
representing YOU, the buyer.
In fact, in most cases we can negotiate for
the acquisition of Don MClean for international dates and newer promoters
providing you meet professional requirements.
Don MClean Biography
Famed for -- and ultimately defined by -- his perennial
American Pie, singer/songwriter Don McLean was born October 2, 1945,
in New Rochelle, NY. 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 recreate 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,
grudglingly 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, All Music Guide
Written by Jason Ankeny