Don McLean

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MR AMERICAN PIE TO MAKE FANS STARRY EYED AT NEWBRIDGE SILVERWARE

The free to enter exhibition, ‘Don McLean – Starry, Starry Night’ is a curation of some of the singer’s most famous and iconic costumes and personal property such as jewellery, instruments, and favourite garments and accessories.   The property is coming to the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware where it will go on public display for just under one month before it goes for auction by Julien’s Auctions on the 11th of November 2022. A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Don McLean Foundation which supports under-resourced college students, homeless shelters and food banks in the state of Maine.

The auction will feature over 300 items from McLean’s private collection and some of these key pieces will be on display at the Museum of Style Icons including the guitar he played for his hit song ‘Vincent, (Starry, Starry Night)’ and the crimson sweater Don wore for the cover of his American Pie album. The famous photograph of Don Mclean on the cover of that iconic album shows the artist with his thumb painted with the American flag pointing directly at the camera. Today the American Pie album is recognised for its cultural significance and enduring impact.

The legendary singer, song writer wrote ‘American Pie’ in 1971 when he was just 24 years old. In 2001, ‘American Pie’ was voted one of the top five ‘Songs of the Century’ by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts whose list includes the veritable landmarks, ‘Over the Rainbow’ by Judy Garland, ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby, ‘This Land Is Your Land’ by Woody Guthrie and ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin. In 2002, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and in 2004, McLean himself was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. ‘American Pie’ held the record as the longest song ever to reach Number One for almost 50 years until Taylor Swift’s  ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version)’ broke the record in 2021.

The eight-minute-long song with its poetic phrase, ‘The day the music died’ refers to the tragic 1959 plane crash that took the lives of rock legends Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.  The song gave voice to his generation’s disillusionment of American society and a loss of innocence as the tumultuous Sixties gave way to the uncertain Seventies.

American Pie received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male), Record of the Year, and Song of the Year and the album’s second single ‘Vincent (Starry, Starry Night),’ an emotional tribute to the artist Vincent Van Gogh, charted in the U.S. and the U.K., and ranked Billboard’s Top 100 songs for the year.

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of American Pie’ and the Grammy-winning star will also perform a fully-seated concert at the 3Arena in Dublin on October 7th.

Other important items which can be seen at Newbridge Silverware include a shirt he wore on the cover of his debut album, ‘Tapestry’, custom- made cowboy boots designed in the style of those worn by ‘Hopalong Cassidy’, one of Don’s favourite cowboys.  A big fan of country and western films and clothing there will be several ‘western’ themed items in the exhibition including Don’s vintage Ricardo brand cowboy spurs, hat and boots.

Don McLean, legendary singer- song writer and one of the most revered folk-rock artists of all time is set to come to the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge Silverware, Newbridge County Kildare (Ireland) on Thursday, the 6th of October

The much-loved artist who has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and who wrote the timeless classics ‘American Pie’ and ‘Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) will open a special exhibition at the Kildare museum dedicated to his life and works. The public will have an opportunity to meet Don Mclean himself when he arrives to Newbridge Silverware at 11.15am this Thursday

Music of course will be well represented in the exhibition and the public will have the chance to see several musical instruments including the first musical instrument ever owned by Don McLean, a Gretsch ukulele gifted to him by his parents for Christmas in 1955.  The ten-year-old McLean had seen Arthur Godfrey playing a ukulele on television and decided it would be easy enough to learn to play since it only had four strings but wanted it to look more like a guitar. In his autobiography Don McLean: American Troubadour, he recalls customizing the ukulele: “I saved my money and went to the House of Music and bought a set of cheap guitar tuners, cut them in half, and screwed them on, very badly, on my Dad’s workbench.”

 One of the most important pieces set to go under the hammer at the November auction is the original lyrics and score for the famous song, ‘Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)’. Auctioneers to the stars, Julien’s Auctions have estimated that this particular item could make as much as $1 million US dollars at auction.

William Doyle, CEO of Newbridge Silverware said, “we are delighted that Don McLean will visit Newbridge Silverware and the Museum of Style Icons. He is a legend and has been instrumental in the development of folk and rock music throughout the world. A huge thanks to Don and to the team at Julien’s Auctions for bringing this exhibition to Newbridge Silverware.  We hope lots of people will come out and grasp this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to see some very important pieces of music memorabilia.”

“Julien’s Auctions is honoured to present this esteemed collection of one of the most influential singers and songwriters of our time, whose artistic genius and poetry defined America,” said Darren Julien, President/CEO of Julien’s Auctions. “We are delighted to offer Mr. McLean’s most precious and personal mementos from his illustrious life and career during this momentous occasion of the 50th anniversary of the release of his magnum opus, ‘American Pie.”

Born October 2, 1945, Don McLean developed an early love for music listening to records and the radio at his family’s home in New Rochelle, New York. While McLean gravitated towards popular artists from Elvis and Buddy Holly to Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, it was the music of the folk revival – which he discovered via the landmark 1955 live record album The Weavers at Carnegie Hall – that would leave the greatest impression on him as a songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist. McLean began making himself known in the folk music circle playing with the likes of Erik Darling and was eventually signed by Harold Leventhal Management, whose roster included celebrated folk artists such as Woody Guthrie and The Weavers.

McLean was the inspiration of another classic hit single, ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ by singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman, who recorded and released the song after watching McLean perform at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1971. Roberta Flak’s 1973 version of the song was a Number One hit in the U.S., Australia, and Canada and charted in the UK Singles Chart, earning her Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1974. In 1996, the Fugees’ version sung by Lauryn Hill on lead vocals went to Number One in twenty countries, earning them the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for a Duo or Group. Both versions by Roberta Flak and the Fugees were placed in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2021.

With the 1990s-2000s came a resurgence for McLean and the popularity of ‘American Pie’– as his signature song broke the U.K. Top Ten and led to several famous performances including Top of the Pops in 1991 and his appearance alongside Garth Brooks and Billy Joel before an audience of over half a million in New York’s Central Park. ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic released his Star Wars-themed parody of ‘American Pie,’ ‘The Saga Begins,’ and in 2000, Madonna recorded a cover version of the song that charted in both the U.K. and the U.S.

McLean’s musical discography has been recorded by artists such as Garth Brooks, Perry Como, Drake, Josh Groban and George Michael and lionized in pop culture with the appearances of ‘American Pie’ in the Avengers instalment film, Black Widow and ‘And I Love You So’ at Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s wedding. In 2020, he released his new album, Still Playin’ Favorites under his new contract at Time Life with whom he released 11 albums containing 173 tracks.

The 50th anniversary of ‘American Pie’ is this year (September 2022) and has been feted with a new version of the song which held the Number One spot on the country music video charts, a new children’s book, and a documentary from Paramount +: The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie, which explored the genesis and significance of McLean’s signature song as well as the ongoing analysis and debate over its lyrics. In celebration of this milestone, McLean will embark on a world tour with an extensive run of concerts in Ireland the U.S., the UK, Scandinavia and more.

‘Don McLean – Starry, Starry Night’ opens on the 6th of October, 2022 at The Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware, Newbridge, Co. Kildare and runs until the 3rd of November.  Admission is free. For more information see www.visitnewbridgesilverware.com

For more information on the Don McLean property auction, ‘Icons & Idols: Rock ‘N’ Roll: Property from the Life and Career of Don McLean’, please email info@juliensauctions.com or see www.juliensauctions.com