Music Icon Don McLean
Presents His Greatest Hits
at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
on Fri., March 22, 8:00 PM
CERRITOS, CA – An American musical treasure, Don McLean makes his way to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) for an evening of hits on Friday, March 22, 8:00 PM. Purchase tickets, which start from $40, at the CCPA Ticket Office, cerritoscenter.com, or by calling (562) 916-8500.
Celebrated for his perennial 1971 No. One classic hit American Pie, DON MCLEAN rose to fame through the Folks clubs of New York City during the ’60s. His follow-up song, Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) was also a smash success, and McLean even became the subject of the ballad Killing Me Softly With His Song, made famous by Roberta Flack. For McLean, his slice of the pie came with American Pie, which led him to the forefront of international spotlight and acclaim. An elegiac Folk-Pop epic inspired by the tragic death of Buddy Holly, the song received its first radio airplay in New York to mark the closing of the famous New York concert hall The Fillmore East.
Thirty years later, American Pie was voted No. Five in a poll of the 365 “Songs of the Century,” compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. The hit was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. Along with the songs And I Love You So and the international No. One Crying, American Pie helped earn McLean more than 40 Gold and Platinum records worldwide. He was inducted into the Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2004.
McLean’s songs have been recorded by artists from every
musical genre, most notably Madonna’s No. 1 version of American Pie and the late George Michael’s take on The Grave, which protested the Iraq War. McLean released the acclaimed album Addicted to Black in 2009.
In 2012, McLean was awarded the BBC Folk Music Lifetime
Achievement Award and saw the release of the American Troubadour CD and DVD.
For tickets or more information, call (562) 916-8500 or go to cerritoscenter.com.
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