Don McLean was born on October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, where his musical inclination manifested itself by the age of 5. His love of music blossomed while he listened to the radio, his dad’s 78 rpm records and often performed shows for family and friends. Don purchased his first guitar as a teenager and took opera lessons paid for by his sister. These lessons, as well as long hours in the swimming pool, helped Don to develop breath control, which stood him in good stead when he later became a singer. He was able to sing long, continuous phrases in songs such as “Crying” without taking a breath.

By 1961, the serious 16 year old was already making contacts in the business. A big fan of the folk act, The Weavers, he introduced himself to member, Erik Darling. They became friends and Don visited Erik in New York frequently. Through Erik, 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. Young Don's vision for himself was that of a troubadour, so he declined. After a brief stint in 1963 at Villanova University, where he met and became friends with Jim Croce, Don went on to work for Harold Leventhal Management. In the ensuing 6 years, he performed at many venues throughout the Northeast, appearing with many artists, including Herbie Mann, Melanie, Janis Ian and Steppenwolf, and many other fine talents. Don McLean’s career was beginning in earnest.

He also attended night school at Iona College and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in 1968 but turned down a prestigious scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School. He became instead the resident singer at Café Lena in NY. When the New York State Council for the Arts invited Don to become their Hudson River Troubadour, he spent the summer traveling from town to town in the Hudson Valley, giving talks about the environment and singing songs for whoever would turn up to listen. A year later, Don and Pete Seeger gave concerts along the Atlantic seaboard.

In 1969, Don also recorded his first album, Tapestry, in Berkeley, CA. The student riots were going on outside the studio door as Don was singing “And I Love You So” inside. The album was first released by Mediarts and attracted good reviews and achieved modest commercial success.

International stardom came in 1971 with the release of "American Pie”. Recorded on May 26, 1971, "American Pie” was first palyed on New York's WNEW-FM and WPLJ-FM to mark the closing of New York's famous concert hall, The Fillmore East. It may seem a little astonishing now, however, the song received a lukewarm response from the audience. Little did they know that they had just heard the song that was to become one of the most famous songs of all time. “American Pie” was voted number 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 30 years later.

“American Pie” was issued as a double A-side single in November 1971 and charted within a month. Every line of the song was analyzed as to the real meaning. Don has always refused to shed any light on the many interpretations, adding to its mystery. The great “American Pie debate” continues today on the Internet. Don once suggested that when he is old and poor he would open a pay-to-listen phone line on which he would tell all! Somehow, that is unlikely because Don has maintained the publishing rights to his songs. "So when people ask me what "American Pie" means, I tell them it means I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to."

Don's second single, the haunting ode to Van Gogh, "Vincent”, charted on March 18, 1972 reaching No. 12 in the US and No. 1 in the UK. The "American Pie” album remained at No. 1 in the UK for 7 weeks in 1972, and in the UK charts for 53 consecutive weeks.

In the wake of these major hits, Don became a major concert attraction, where the years he spent playing gigs in small clubs and coffee houses paid off handsomely. Tapestry was reissued by United Artists in 1972, reach the Top 15 in the UK. It includes two of Don's most famous songs: "And I Love You So” and "Castles in the Air”.

More album releases followed: Don McLean and Playin Favourites, which reached the UK top 40 and included the classic, "Mountains of Mourne” and Buddy Holly's "Everyday”. In 1973, the legendary Perry Como recorded "And I Love You So” from the "Tapestry” album and took it to No. 5 in the UK and the American Top 30. Como's version was nominated for a Grammy but was beaten by a song about Don, "Killing Me Softly With His Song”, sung by Roberta Flack and written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox after Lori Leiberman had attended a McLean concert at the LA Troubadour.

Throughout the 1970s, Don McLean remained an in-demand concert performer. In 1978, Don worked with Elvis Presley's backing singers, "The Jordanaires” and many of Elvis's old musicians in Nashville. The result was Chain Lightning and the UK No 1, "Crying”. In the 80s, Don continued to work in the upper echelons of popular music.

In the 1990s, many previously unreleased songs became available on Favorites and Rarities while Don McLean Classics featured new studio recordings of "Vincent” and "American Pie”, and in 1996, "Killing Me Softly With His Song"', performed by The Fugees, became one of the biggest selling singles of that year. Guns 'n' Roses” took a replica of Don's version of "Since I Don't Have You” to the UK Top 10, while "American Pie' was covered by European artist, Just Luis and, bringing us up to the turn of the century, Madonna recorded her cover version in 2000. Upon its release in the UK, it entered the official singles chart at number 1 and made the US Top 30 on air play points alone. EMI then released a new Best of Don McLean CD that charted in the Top 30. In 2003, George Michael's recorded "The Grave", from the American Pie album, as a protest against the Iraq war. He recorded the song for MTV and performed it live on Top of the Pops.

A number of honors have already come Don's way in the new century: Iona College conferred an honorary doctorate on Don in 2001; in February 2002, "American Pie" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and on June 10, 2004, Don McLean was inaugurated into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

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