By Rita Charleston

For the Times

In the early days of his career, Don McLean looked for inspiration from Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Weavers, among other music legends.

And while attempting to make his own mark on the music business, McLean became an inspiration to others, advising newcomers to learn to write their own material, learn how to sing and how to play.

"I think I'm very lucky because I learned the importance of doing all that when I was still very young," said singer/songwriter McLean, author of the celebrated American Pie, who is returning to the Keswick Theater in Glenside on Nov. 13.

McLean, 64, was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., and graduated from Iona College, but he turned down a scholarship to the Columbia University Graduate School in favor of becoming the resident singer at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. During that residency, the New York State Council for the Arts invited McLean to become its Hudson River Troubadour.

Singing his way across the Hudson Valley helped McLean go on to record his first album, Tapestry, in 1969. But it wasn't until two years later that he made the transition to international stardom with the release of American Pie, his ode to the "day the music died" when Buddy Holly perished in a 1959 plane crash.

Thirty years after the song's release, it was voted No. 5 in a poll of the 365 "Songs of the Century," compiled by the National Endowment for the Arts.

"I'm not one for lists, but everyone in the world has been taught that song. And I'll admit I am proud of things like that," McLean said. "The song has become part of the American vocabulary, if you will. Actually, there are so many lousy songs you could be stuck with, but certainly American Pie isn't one of them."

Throughout the 1970s, McLean remained an in-demand concert performer, recording a series of hits.

This music man has stayed active throughout these many decades. Ask McLean why and his answer is to the point: "Audiences keep coming to see me because I've got over forty albums in print, two-hundred YouTube performances, and three number-one or number-two songs around the world," he said.

"I also know how to please an audience," he continued. "When people pay their hard-earned money to see me, I give them what they want. Word gets around quickly, so you have to have a lot more than hits under your belt. Audiences are not forgiving. When they come to a performance they want to be entertained. They don't want to hear your troubles or be looked at like an incontinence by someone who doesn't want to sing a hit song. If you don't like singing it, sing it anyway. You've got to be a professional, even doing what you don't want to do, just like everybody else who has a job."

And as he does his job, McLean continues to amass new honors. His alma mater conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 2001, and American Pie was finally inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame the following year.

In 2004, McLean was inaugurated into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and in 2007, he shared his life story in author Alan Howard's biography. Most recently, his newest CD, Addicted to Black, was released.

With no plans to retire, McLean insists he's looking to many more years as a performer. "When and if I can no longer sing, I'll retire," he said. "But they'll have to work hard to stop me. I love to sing, meet people and travel. And I intend to keep doing that as long as I can."

For ticket information, call 215-572-7660.