DON McLEAN
Don McLean (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the songs “American Pie” and “Vincent”. “At his core Don is an American individualist – he does things his own way. . . . Don is a poet like a Byron or a Keats in that regard for having a pop sensibility mixed with folk music and rock ’n’ roll. . . . I think for centuries to come you’ll hear people doing cover versions of his songs.” (Douglas Brinkley) (More from Wikipedia)
Sadly the Latin presence in American rock and roll is not at all recognized. Most people only know about Ritchie Valens, who had a couple of hit songs back in the 1950’s, “Donna” (or “Oh Donna”) and “La Bamba” (the title of a 1987 biopic film about him, La Bamba starring Lou Diamond Phillips). Along with the better known Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, Valens died in the 1959 plane crash in Iowa that was immortalized in Don McLean’s haunting “American Pie” as “The Day the Music Died”.
(January 2011)
