Donald Richard McLean (born October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1971 songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".
Don McLean was profoundly affected by the deaths of both Buddy Holly and John F. Kennedy. In his personal life, he endured the death of his father in 1961. McLean graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1963, but dropped out of Villanova University after only four months. He later attended night school at Iona College and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in 1968. He was a popular folk singer at campus events. With the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, he began reaching a wider public, with visits to towns up and down the Hudson River. He learned the art of performing from his friend and mentor Pete Seeger. McLean accompanied Seeger on his Clearwater boat up the Hudson River in 1969 to protest environmental pollution in the river. The Clearwater campaign was widely credited for improving water quality in the Hudson River.
In 1991, Don McLean returned to the UK top 20 with a re-issue of "American Pie". The song became a worldwide smash again in 2000 when covered in abridged form by Madonna.
As of 2006, Don continues to tour extensively both in the U.S. and Europe. His new album Addicted to Black is expected to be released in the near future, along with his biography Killing Us Softly: The Don McLean Story (Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is said to have been written about Don after Lori Lieberman, also a singer/song writer saw him singing his composition "Empty Chairs" in concert. Afterwards, Lori wrote a poem titled "Killing me softly with his blue", and inspired by this poem, Norman Gimbel/Charles Fox wrote this song and the rest is history).
