Bryan MacLean

Bryan Andrew MacLean (September 25, 1946 – December 25, 1998) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the influential rock band Love.

Bryan MacLean's mother was an artist and a dancer, and his father was an architect for Hollywood celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Dean Martin.

During his childhood, he wore out show music records from Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, South Pacific and West Side Story.

MacLean appears in the 1957 Cary Grant film An Affair to Remember, singing in the Deborah Kerr character's music class.

I had wanted to be an artist in the bohemian tradition, where we would sit around with banjos and do folk music, but when I saw A Hard Day's Night everything changed.

33 on the US national chart with their proto-punk single "7 and 7 Is", followed by their second album in November, Da Capo, featuring MacLean's "Orange Skies".

After early sessions stalled due to the group's lack of rehearsal and preparation, Botnick hired several members of the legendary L.A. session musician collective "the Wrecking Crew" to record with Lee and MacLean on two tracks, a tactic that effectively spurred the proper group back into action.

After a brief period of intensive rehearsals, Love returned to the studio and completed the remaining cuts for the album in just 64 hours.

It has been covered by many notable acts, including UFO, Calexico, the Damned, and a collaboration between Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs.

During Friday night Bible readings, MacLean took the concert part of the session and was so amazed at the money he received that he gradually assembled a catalogue of his Christian songs.

He played an unsuccessful reunion with Lee in 1978 on two dates but wasn't paid, so he turned down an offer for a UK tour, which was to have been billed as the "original" Love.

MacLean also worked with his half-sister Maria McKee and wrote the song "Don't Toss Us Away" for the debut album of her band Lone Justice.

[8] In the album's liner notes, Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote that the collection was, "in a sense, the Love record that never was: solo demos and home recordings of fourteen original MacLean songs, all written in the earliest and most vital years of Love and all but three virtually unheard in any form since MacLean wrote them".

For one thing, I would've stuck around the band a lot longer, not feeling the frustration of having such a backlog of unpublished, and unperformed material, and the natural unfulfilled desire for recognition, or even vindication."

Love in 1967 (From left to right: Johnny Echols , Bryan MacLean, Arthur Lee [top], Ken Forssi , Michael Stuart).