While resident at Caffe Lena, the New York State Council for the Arts invited Don to become their Hudson River Troubadour. He appeared alongside artists like Herbie Mann, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Melanie, Steppenwolf, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian, Josh White, Ten Wheel Drive and others.ĭon also found time to attend night school at Iona College and, in 1968, graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration but turned down a prestigious scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School in favor of becoming resident singer at Caffe Lena in NY. This started a six year period during which time Don performed at venues like the Bitter End and Gaslight Café in New York, the Newport Folk Festival, the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., the Main Point in Philadelphia, the Troubadour and Ash Grove in Los Angeles and over forty colleges throughout New York and New England. While at Villanova University in 1963 (he stayed for just four months), Don met and became friends with Jim Croce and President Kennedy was assassinated.Īfter leaving Villanova, Don worked his ‘apprenticeship’ for “Harold Leventhal Management”. However, even at that time, Don saw himself as a troubadour and turned down the offer. Through Erik Darling, Don recorded his first studio sessions with Lisa Kindred and was invited to join a group with Darling and the other members of the Rooftop Singers. They become friends and Don visited his apartment in New York. After managing to get his home number from the telephone directory, Don phoned Erik Darling.
#Don mclean american pie live professional
Don was determined to become a professional musician and singer and, as a 16-year-old, he was already making contacts in the business. Don was just 15 years old.īy this time, Don’s musical focus was on folk thanks, in part, to The Weavers landmark 1955 recording “Live at Carnegie Hall”. Sadly, a few months later his father died. In 1961, Don took his only vacation with his father – a trip to Washington D.C. The exercise also meant his asthma improved. These lessons combined with many hours in the swimming pool, helped Don to develop breath control, which would later allow him to sing long, continuous phrases, in songs such as “Crying”, without taking a breath.
He would often perform shows for family and friends.Īs a teenager, he purchased his first guitar (a Harmony F Hole with a sunburst finish) from the House of Music in New Rochelle and took opera lessons paid for by his sister. Childhood asthma meant that Don missed long periods of school and while he slipped back in his studies, his love of music was allowed to flourish. By the age of five he had developed an interest in all forms of music and would spend hours listening to the radio and his father’s records. This classic tune was written by Don McLean.Don McLean was born on October 2nd 1945 in New Rochelle, New York, to Elizabeth and Donald McLean. Watch two video versions of American Pie and see the written lyrics below. McLean repeatedly declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned in “American Pie”.
The main theme of the song goes beyond its superficial semblance of mourning McLean’s childhood music heroes, and reflects the deep cultural changes and profound disillusionment and loss of innocence of his entire generation. This fatal plane crash ended the era of early rock and roll. The phrase “the day the music died” refers to the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. McLean also earned a country hit in 1981 with his remake of Roy Orbison’s “Crying” song. This song was the number-one US hit for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart starting January 15, 1972.ĭon McLean was born in New Rochelle, New York and became a pop and folk artist best known for his recording of “American Pie,”. The Don McLean American Piesong was “American Pie” was released on the American Pie album in 1971.
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