Don McLean turns 81 today, and he is celebrating about as far from New Rochelle as a man can get. The “American Pie” singer was born October 2, 1945 in that New York suburb, according to Fox News, and this month he is on the road in Australia with dates in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, plus more than a dozen American shows on the calendar.
The song that made him immortal spent four weeks at number one starting in January 1972. “American Pie” was later added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, and a landmark RIAA poll ranked it the fifth greatest song of the 20th century, behind only “Respect,” “This Land Is Your Land,” “White Christmas,” and “Over the Rainbow.”
Don McLean And The Song That Never Ages
Not bad company for eight and a half minutes about the day the music died. The man behind it has carried the song for more than five decades and still finds new rooms to sing it in. Earlier this year, we looked at the very real heartbreak that inspired “American Pie”, which is worth revisiting on his birthday.
Eighty-one years old and singing in four Australian cities this month. The Chevy may have reached the levee, but Don McLean keeps driving.