Don McLean
is nourished by ‘Pie’

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Why has Don McLean enjoyed such a long and successful career in the music industry?
McLean — best known for the enduring mega-hit song American Pie — made a shrewd business decision years ago by maintaining the publishing rights to all of his music.
As for his live performances, McLean has always understood that the music world does not begin and end in the United States. He’s toured the world for 35 years.
Last month, he performed to large crowds throughout Ireland, England and Wales, selling out the Royal Albert Hall in London.
"It was very successful," he said. "I have loyal fans and got rave reviews."
McLean will continue his international travels next March in Australia, but for now, he’s playing stateside.
Local music fans can catch him in concert on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside.
"It’s a nice theater," he said in a telephone conversation from his home in the mountains of Maine. "I’m looking forward to coming there to sing."
McLean has been to the Keswick in the past, and he has some other local ties.
He attended Villanova University for a semester and got to know a fellow student named Jim Croce — the South Philadelphia native who built his own solid career as a singer-songwriter but died at age 30 in a 1973 plane crash.
In his early career, McLean played at the former Main Point in Bryn Mawr and at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.
The veteran singer promises two hours of fun for his fans.
"I’ll do all the songs they know me for and a number of brand-new songs," he said. "I never do the same show twice. I’ve never done it in forty years."
McLean, 62, is a native of New Rochelle, N.Y. He rebounded from his brief stay at Villanova to earn a degree in business administration from Iona College.
Music, though, was his love, and that’s all he has done for four decades. He was a struggling 25-year-old singer in 1971 when he sang American Pie for the first time.
The folk-pop song — a lengthy ode that spans eight and a half minutes — was inspired by memories of the 1959 airplane crash that took the life of rocker Buddy Holly. The tune became an epic and made McLean a household word and a major concert attraction.
The song has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and was ranked fifth in a Songs of the Century survey by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
While McLean has never done the same show twice, he has made sure to sing American Pie at every concert since it debuted, including in front of more than 500,000 fans at a Garth Brooks concert at New York’s Central Park in 1997.
A Don McLean concert without American Pie, he said, would be like a Frank Sinatra concert without I’ve Got You Under My Skin. That’s what people pay good money to hear.
"It’s my signature song," he said. "It was a hit record and a very important song."
McLean has had some other hit songs, including his version of the Roy Orbison classic Crying. He also was the original singer of And I Love You So, though Elvis Presley and Perry Como had better success with their cover versions.
The artist also was the subject of Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly With His Song, later done by The Fugees.
Over the years, McLean has released an incredible 43 albums, including some compilations. His newest release, scheduled to hit the stores soon, is titled Addicted to Black.
In 2004, he was inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. That Hall might not be as glitzy as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in his opinion, but it’s every bit as meaningful.
"That was a terrific honor for me," he said.
Earlier this year, a biography on his life was released, a book titled The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs.
McLean still loves performing those songs. He’ll be busy next week. The night before playing at the Keswick, he’ll be in concert in New York. The night before that, he’ll be onstage in Alexandria, Va.
"I’ve been doing this for three-quarters of my life," he said.
Today, he is married with two teenage children. He likes riding horses and staying politically active. He donates money to soup kitchens for the homeless and has spoken out in the past for environmental causes and against the war in Iraq. He likes Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president and opposes the candidacy of Rudy Giuliani.
After the Keswick show, he plans to take time to enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
In 2008, McLean will send a daughter to college, with his son a couple of years away. He plans a busy year on the road.
"Now is a good time to embrace my career more intensely," he said. "I sound and feel pretty good. I still love the music business. The business and the people have been great to me." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com

Starry, starry night . . .

Don McLean will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue in Glenside, Montgomery County.
Tickets cost $45 and $35.
They are available at the Keswick box office, by calling 215-572-7650 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com