‘American Pie’ singer Don McLean is arrested on suspicion of domestic violence

Don McLean, the singer-songwriter best known for the classic “American Pie,� has been arrested on a domestic violence charge.

The 70-year-old was arrested early Monday on suspicion of misdemeanor assault and released from Knox County Jail after a couple of hours on $10,000 bail, law enforcement told the Associated Press.

Police responded to a 911 call made around 2 a.m. from the Camden, Maine, home he shares with wife Patrisha McLean, the Portland Press Herald reported. The singer was arrested without incident, Camden Police Chief Randy Gagne told the outlet.

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The charge is the lowest level of assault crime, police told WCSH-TV Channel 6.

Patrisha McLean, Don McLean’s wife since 1987, is a photographer. The couple, who have two adult children, have lived in Camden for more than 20 years.

The singer has a Feb. 22 appearance scheduled at Knox County Superior Court in Rockland, Maine, according to the Wiscasset Newspaper. Courts were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The court date works with his tour schedule: McLean has performances on tap at the end of January in Chicago and a couple of Texas venues. He’ll hit Southern California -- La Mirada specifically -- on March 5, then it’s off to Australia for 11 dates before he returns for U.S. shows in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

McLean sold the original, handwritten manuscript of his 8½-minute epic “American Pie� last April for $1.2 million.

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“I have two children and a wife, and none of them seem to have the mercantile instinct,� McLean told Rolling Stone before the auction. “I want to get the best deal that I can for them. It’s time.�

“Over the years I’ve dealt with all these stupid questions of ‘Who’s that?’ and ‘Who’s that?’� he told the magazine. “These are things I never had in my head for a second when I wrote the song. I was trying to capture something very ephemeral and I did, but it took a long time.�

In a statement released to Christie’s when the auction was announced, he said: “It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music and then was fortunate enough through the help of others to make a successful recording.�

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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