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Peter, Paul but no more Mary
Source: Agencies |
September 18, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MARY Travers, one-third of the popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who were perhaps best known for their hit "Puff (The Magic Dragon)," died in an American hospital after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.
The band's publicist said Travers died on Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.
Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity.
"It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity."
Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless."
"I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said.
Greenwich Village
Mary Allin Travers was born on November 9, 1936, in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger.
It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Albert B. Grossman, who later handled Bob Dylan.
The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut at the Bitter End.
Their beatnik look ¨? a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists ¨? was a part of their initial appeal.
The trio mingled their music with liberal politics. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)"
They were early champions of Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington.
And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.
At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement.
With the advent of the Beatles and Dylan's switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared. They disbanded in 1971, but their solo careers never reached the same heights.
The band's publicist said Travers died on Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.
Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity.
"It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity."
Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless."
"I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said.
Greenwich Village
Mary Allin Travers was born on November 9, 1936, in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger.
It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Albert B. Grossman, who later handled Bob Dylan.
The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut at the Bitter End.
Their beatnik look ¨? a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists ¨? was a part of their initial appeal.
The trio mingled their music with liberal politics. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)"
They were early champions of Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington.
And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.
At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement.
With the advent of the Beatles and Dylan's switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared. They disbanded in 1971, but their solo careers never reached the same heights.
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