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The man behind “American Pie” might’ve ended up in a much worse place if not for his asthma.
Speaking to The i, musician Don McLean opened up about how the difficulties he faced in childhood shaped his later life as an artist.
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“Children are all naturally creative – until school knocks it out of them,” the 76-year-old said. “They sing, they paint, they invent stuff.”
He continued, “One of the advantages of having asthma is that it kept me out of school for long periods for many years. I was able to develop another Don McLean that wasn’t programmed by the school system.”
McLean went on, “If I’d been perfectly healthy and a good student or athlete, I’d probably be dead now because I would have been a really boring person at a bank somewhere who drank himself to death.”
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He also revealed that he was only actually able to pursue his love for music after his dad passed away, when McLean was 15-years-old.
“For some reason my father was adamantly opposed to show business. He thought that was for some sort of lesser man,” he recalled. “I was very sad when my father passed away, but I also realised I could do anything I wanted without worrying about my father turning against me, which he certainly would have done.”
