Bryan MacLean

MacLean then completed a spiritual album of Christian music and was about to record another album when he died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles area restaurant on Christmas Day 1998.

Around 1996, MacLean's Elektra Records demo tapes were discovered by his mother Elizabeth in the family garage, and after two years of persistent shopping around to record companies, a deal was struck with Sundazed, who in 1997 released the CD Ifyoubelievein. 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".

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. The Bryan MacLean Band got a gig supporting Lee's Love at the Whisky in 1982. 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.

Bryan joined a Christian ministry called the Vineyard, the same church that Bob Dylan later joined. 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. His next move was to open a Christian nightclub in Beverly Hills called the Daisy. When it closed in 1976, MacLean considered going full-time into the ministry but decided once again to devote himself to music.

MacLean's "Alone Again Or" is the album's opening track, with MacLean and Lee providing co-lead vocals. "Alone Again Or" was the sole single released from the album to appear on the Billboard singles chart, backed with Lee's "A House Is Not a Motel". A remixed mono version of "Alone Again Or" was released as a promo single by Elektra in 1970. "Alone Again Or" initially peaked at No. 123 in 1968 in an edited version, while the longer, original album version spent three weeks on the singles chart in 1970 before peaking at No. 99, according to Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles: 1955-2010 (2011). In 2010, "Alone Again Or" came in at No. 442 in a poll of the 500 greatest songs of all time conducted by Rolling Stone magazine (it was No. 436 in the 2004 poll). It has been covered by many notable acts, including UFO, Calexico, and the Damned.

Despite their early success, by mid-1967, Love's "classic" lineup was already falling apart, due to a combination of factors including internal tensions, complacency, lack of rehearsals, drug use, the growing creative rivalry between Lee and MacLean (MacLean was increasingly unhappy with Lee's domination of the songwriting), and Lee's refusal to tour or travel to promote their records. However, this lineup held together long enough to create their third (and final) album, Forever Changes (1967), which is considered one of the finest rock albums ever: it reached No. 40 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Top 500 Albums of All Time (2003); No. 6 on the NME's 100 Best Albums of All Time (2003) and No. 37 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2013); and No. 11 on Virgin's All-Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). It was entered into the National Recording Registry in May 2012.

Jac Holzman's Elektra Records signed Love, and they had a minor hit with their version of the Bacharach/David tune "My Little Red Book" from their March 1966 debut album, Love, to which MacLean contributed the song "Softly to Me", as well as co-writing two other songs. He also contributed the Byrds' arrangement of "Hey Joe", which he performed live, singing the lead vocal on the record. Later that year, Love hit No. 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".

MacLean started playing guitar professionally in 1963. He got a job at the Balladeer in West Hollywood, playing folk and blues guitar. The following year, the club changed its name to the Troubadour. His regular set routine was a mixture of Appalachian folk songs and Delta blues, and he also frequently covered Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". It was there he met Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn, the founding musicians of the Byrds, when they were rehearsing as a duo. MacLean also became good friends with David Crosby. During that time, MacLean also became friends with songwriter Sharon Sheeley, who fixed him up on his first date with singer Jackie DeShannon.

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. His famous compositions for Love include "Alone Again Or", "Old Man" and "Orange Skies".

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. Neighbor Frederick Loewe, of the songwriting team Lerner & Loewe, recognized him as a "melodic genius" at the age of three as he doodled on the piano. His early influences were Billie Holiday and George Gershwin, although he confessed to an obsession with Elvis Presley. During his childhood, he wore out show music records from Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, South Pacific and West Side Story. His first girlfriend was Liza Minnelli, and they would sit at the piano together singing songs from The Wizard of Oz (1939). He learned to swim in Elizabeth Taylor's pool, and his father's good friend was actor Robert Stack. MacLean appears in the 1957 Cary Grant film An Affair to Remember, singing in the Deborah Kerr character's music class. Maria McKee is his half-sister.