Legendary singer-songwriter Don McLean will be "driving his chevy to the" Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on February 25 on his 2017 concert tour.
He is best known for his magnum opus, "American Pie," an impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.
The song popularized the expression "The Day the Music Died" in reference to this event. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and stayed there for 20 days, and remains his most successful single release.
In February 2002, "American Pie" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Two years later McLean was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Famous country singer Garth Brooks presented the award and said, "Don McLean, his work, like the man himself, is very deep and very compassionate. His pop anthem 'American Pie' is a cultural phenomenon."
The original handwritten manuscript for the song sold at auction for $1.2 million in 2015.
"Vincent (Starry Starry Night)," another song off of his debut album in 1971, a tribute to the 19th century Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, is another one of his anthems.
McLean has amassed over 40 gold and platinum records worldwide and will share with his audience all of his golden hits.
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