Peter, Paul and Mary reunited on stage in 1978. From left, Paul Stookey, Mary Travers, and Peter Yarrow.
(Upi/File 1978)
DANBURY, Conn. - Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died yesterday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years.
Ms. Travers, who lived in Redding, Conn., joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s. The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of “If I Had a Hammer’’ became an anthem for racial equality.
They were early champions of Bob 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.
The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on such enduring songs as “Leaving on a Jet Plane’’; “Puff (The Magic Dragon)’’; and “Blowin’ in the Wind.’’
At one point in 1963 as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs.
It was heady stuff for a trio that had formed in the early 1960s in Greenwich Village, running through simple tunes such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb.’’
They debuted at the Bitter End in 1961, and their beatnik look - a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists - was a part of their initial appeal. As New York Times critic Robert Shelton put it not long afterward, “Sex appeal as a keystone for a folk-song group was the idea of the group’s manager, Albert B. Grossman, who searched for months for ‘the girl’ until he decided on Ms. Travers.’’
Their debut album came out in 1962 and immediately scored a pair of hits with their versions of “If I Had a Hammer’’ and “Lemon Tree.’’ The former won them Grammys for best folk recording and best performance by a vocal group.
“Moving’’ was the follow-up, including the hit tale of innocence lost, “Puff (The Magic Dragon).’’
Album No. 3, “In the Wind,’’ featured three songs by the 22-year-old Dylan. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’’ and “Blowin’ in the Wind’’ both reached the top 10, bringing Dylan’s material to a massive audience; the latter shipped 300,000 copies during one two-week period.
“Blowin’ In the Wind’’ became a civil rights anthem, and Peter, Paul and Mary fully embraced the cause. They marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., and performed at his speech in Washington.
In a 1966 New York Times interview, Ms. Travers said the three worked well together because they respected one another. “There has to be a certain amount of love just in order for you to survive together,’’ she said. “A lot of groups have gone down the tubes because they were not able to relate to one another.’’
With the ascension of the Beatles and Dylan’s switch to electric guitar, the folk boom disappeared.
But the trio continued their success, scoring with the tongue-in-cheek single “I Dig Rock and Roll Music,’’ a gentle parody of the Mamas and the Papas, in 1967 and the John Denver-penned “Leaving on a Jet Plane’’ two years later.
They also continued as boosters for young songwriters, recording songs written by then-little-known Gordon Lightfoot and Laura Nyro.
In 1969 the group earned its final Grammy for “Peter, Paul and Mommy,’’ which won for best children’s album. They disbanded in 1971, launching solo careers - Ms. Travers released five albums - that never achieved the heights of their collaborations.
Over the years they enjoyed several reunions, including a performance at a 1978 antinuclear benefit organized by Yarrow and a 35th-anniversary album, “Lifelines,’’ with fellow folkies Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk, and Pete Seeger.
Mary Allin Travers was born in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan’s bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with such folk performers as the Weavers and was soon performing with Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family.
With a group called the Song Swappers, Ms. Travers backed Seeger on one album and two shows at Carnegie Hall. She also appeared (as one of a group of folk singers) in a short-lived 1958 Broadway show called “The Next President,’’ starring comedian Mort Sahl.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.