Don McLean started just as he suggests in American Pie, as a paperboy. It was in this way that he learned of the death of the man he calls his first and last idol: Buddy Holly. Haunted by feelings that everything important had been said and done by bigger men, Don tried his hand at music. In the mid to late 1960's, McLean earned regional success in New York's Hudson Valley. Don was declared Hudson River Troubadour. He hitchhiked the river performing in the watertowns. It was during this that he met Pete Seeger and was drafted into the "Sloop Singers," a group preaching environmental respect.
With this environmentally aware background, Don created Tapestry. He took the record to, and was turned down by, thirty-four different record labels. Finally, a tiny label called Mediarts released the record in 1970. Due to poor publicity, the record was largely overlooked until the release of the more popular American Pie. Tapestry was a record dealing with cultural and ecological problems facing America in the seventies, and today.
When American Pie was released, the title song was considered too long by the AM stations of the day. When released as a single, the eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds behemoth was both the A side and the B side. Therefore, it received little air time or was hacked up by the AM stations to a more suitable length. The FM stations, however, were just coming onto the scene and were playing more experimental music in order to compete with the more founded AM stations. When FM caught hold of American Pie, they played the full version and listeners loved it. American Pie sold at an unbelievable rate and Don McLean was shot into superstardom. American Pie rocketted to number one almost overnight. Don's next two records were more inward in nature asking about the price of such fame.
While Don was enjoying local success with American Pie, he was also earning international fame with Vincent. Also on the American Pie record, Vincent is about impressionistic Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. When first released, the song was played daily at the Vincent Van Gogh museum. After American Pie, McLean released Don McLean and Homeless Brother. Both featured one or two popular songs, but none could match the original hype created by American Pie.
While Don has released albums every year or two, the majority have been compilations of past work (almost always containing American Pie). He has just released a couple of original records, with plans to do more in the future. His tours are almost always European, where he is still a superstar, though he does return to America to perform occasionally.
