Peter Yarrow, vocalist of the American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died at the age of 86. The cause of death was bladder cancer, which Yarrow was diagnosed with four years ago.
Yarrow sang lead vocals on “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “The Great Mandela,” and “The Day Is Done,” which he wrote or co-wrote with Noel Paul Stookey. . Mary Travers passed away in 2009, making Stookey the last surviving member of the group.
strange told the New York Times Yarrow is his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother,” whom he credits with “a wisdom mature beyond his years and the inspirational guidance he shared with me like an older brother.” I have come to appreciate and love it.” Peter is probably the brother I never had, and I will miss them both very much. ”
During their heyday in the '60s, the group had six US Top 10 singles and one No. 1 single, a cover of John Denver's “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and five Top 10 albums. .
They were also politically important. In August 1963, this progressive trio participated in the March on Washington, singing a cover of Bob Dylan's “Blowin' in the Wind” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, honoring the song's legacy as a civil rights anthem. Made it firm.
Many of Yarrow's songs are political, with 1967's “The Great Mandela'' telling the story of war protesters who go on hunger strike, and “Day Is Done'' telling his son that his generation can create a better world. It was hinting.
In 1970, when 14-year-old Barbara Winter went to his hotel room in Washington, D.C., to get an autograph, he answered the door naked and let her touch him until he ejaculated.
Yarrow was granted a presidential pardon by Jimmy Carter in January 1981, the day before Carter's presidential term ended. In 2019, Yarrow's scheduled performance at the Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival in New York state was canceled as awareness of his conviction resurfaced.
“I do not intend to downplay or excuse what I have done. I cannot properly express my apologies and sadness for the pain and hurt I have caused,” he said. he told the New York Times at the time..
In 2021, Winter said she was not informed of the pardon until she read about it in the press. “It felt like I had been sucker punched in the gut,” she said. told the Washington PostThe paper said the pardon was “perhaps the only one in U.S. history to wipe out a child sex crimes conviction,” as it was granted hours before American hostages in Iran were released. , pointed out that it did not attract attention at the time.
Yarrow was born on May 31, 1938, to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who settled in Providence, Rhode Island. He received a degree in psychology from Cornell University, graduating in 1959. He began performing during his final year at Cornell University, singing in response to a lecture in folklorist Harold Thompson's “Romp and Stomp” class.
After graduating, he performed in folk clubs in New York City. At the urging of his manager, Albert Grossman, whom he had met after performing at the Newport Folk Festival in 1960, Travers met with Travers to discuss forming “Weavers for Baby Boomers.” Travers suggested that Stookey round out the group.
They performed for the first time in New York in 1961 and signed a contract with Warner Brothers. Their first hit was a cover of Pete Seeger's “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song),” which reached number 10 in the US in 1962. That year, they released their self-titled debut album, which spent 10 months at the top of the US charts. It was in the top 20 for 10 years and 2 years.
A year later, the trio popularized “Blowin' in the Wind.” Dylan was also managed by Grossman. They also released “Puff the Magic Dragon,'' which became a staple of children's music, but contrary to popular opinion, it was not about marijuana, but about the loss of childhood innocence. It was.
In 1969, “Leaving on a Jet Plane” became his last US Top 40 hit. A year later, following Yarrow's conviction, the group disbanded to pursue a solo career, but reunited in 1972 to support Democratic candidate George McGovern's presidential campaign. In 1978, he staged a protest against nuclear energy and a reunion tour. The group reunited for good in 1981. Travers died in 2009 due to complications from chemotherapy while being treated for leukemia.
In his later years, Yarrow performed with his daughter Bethany Yarrow and cellist Rufus Cappadocia as Peter, Bethany, and Rufus. In 2011, he joined Bethany and her son Christopher at the Occupy Wall Street protests, performing “Puff” and “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
Yarrow continued to support political candidates throughout his life, but often found that his past convictions spurred opposition forces to turn those candidates away from his support.
In 1969, Yarrow married Mary Beth McCarthy, the niece of Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. They divorced but remarried in 2022.
