Don McLean - Later Work and Honors

Later Work and Honors

In 1991, Don McLean returned to the UK top 20 with a re-issue of "American Pie".

Iona College conferred an honorary doctorate on McLean in 2001.

In February 2002, "American Pie" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2004, McLean was inaugurated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 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".

In 2007, the biography The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs was published. Biographer Alan Howard conducted extensive interviews for this, the only book-length biography of the often reclusive McLean to date.

In 2008, New York City radio station Q104.3 FM WAXQ named Don McLean's "American Pie" number 37 in their 2008 Top 1,043 Songs Of All Time listener-generated countdown.

In February 2012 McLean won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Life Time Achievement award.

In March 2012 the PBS network broadcast a feature length documentary about the life and music of Don McLean called "American Troubadour" produced by 4-time Emmy Award winning film maker Jim Brown.