As a young performer, she was heartbreakingly beautiful, to me as a young girl, an icon of what grown up beauty could be. And she had a clear, strong soprano that soared above the mellow tenors of her singing partners, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. She was Mary Travers, the Mary of Peter, Paul & Mary, a 60s group that had a surprising and long- lasting revival in 1978, but is now one voice less. As Rolling Stone puts it, she was "...best known as the visual focal point of ...Peter, Paul & Mary. With her fervent stage moves and long, straight blond hair...Travers brought both powerful lungs and sex appeal to folk music."
Born in Louisville, KY, the daughter of journalists, Travers grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village, the perfect setting for an aspiring artist. She benefited from exposure to the folk music scene of the early 1960s. Influenced by the folk tunes of the Weavers, Ledbelly, and Woody Guthrie, she became a regular performer in the weekend folk sessions at Washington Square Park while still in her teens. As a member of a teen group, The Song Swappers, she performed at Carnegie Hall and recorded with folk icon Pete Seeger.
Albert Grossman, famous as the manager of Bob Dylan, introduced Travers to Peter Yarrow and later to Noel Paul Stookey, suggesting that they form a trio. After an initial reluctance-- she never pictured herself making a career of folk singing-- Travers became a founding member of Peter, Paul & Mary, which debuted at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village in 1961. The group’s debut album, Peter, Paul & Mary was a top ten seller for ten months, and their single, “If I Had a Hammer”, written by Pete Seeger, became an anthem of the civil rights movement, as did their later recording of Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”
The trio, whose work together was infused with social commentary, separated in 1970. Travers, by now mother to two daughters, remained active as a solo artist, recording four albums by 1974. She also remained a political and social activist, even after the end of the Vietnam War following President Nixon's resignation in 1974.
Peter, Paul, & Mary reunited in 1978 for a benefit concert that went so well they agreed to resume the trio. That year they released the album Reunion and embarked on an ambitious concert schedule that they maintained until the present day, despite Traver’s diagnosis of leukemia in 2004. The group also continued their political activism, taking on such causes as human rights in Central and South America, homelessness, and world hunger among many other issues. Mary Travers died of cancer on September 16 at the age of 72.
Born in Louisville, KY, the daughter of journalists, Travers grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village, the perfect setting for an aspiring artist. She benefited from exposure to the folk music scene of the early 1960s. Influenced by the folk tunes of the Weavers, Ledbelly, and Woody Guthrie, she became a regular performer in the weekend folk sessions at Washington Square Park while still in her teens. As a member of a teen group, The Song Swappers, she performed at Carnegie Hall and recorded with folk icon Pete Seeger.
Albert Grossman, famous as the manager of Bob Dylan, introduced Travers to Peter Yarrow and later to Noel Paul Stookey, suggesting that they form a trio. After an initial reluctance-- she never pictured herself making a career of folk singing-- Travers became a founding member of Peter, Paul & Mary, which debuted at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village in 1961. The group’s debut album, Peter, Paul & Mary was a top ten seller for ten months, and their single, “If I Had a Hammer”, written by Pete Seeger, became an anthem of the civil rights movement, as did their later recording of Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”
The trio, whose work together was infused with social commentary, separated in 1970. Travers, by now mother to two daughters, remained active as a solo artist, recording four albums by 1974. She also remained a political and social activist, even after the end of the Vietnam War following President Nixon's resignation in 1974.
Peter, Paul, & Mary reunited in 1978 for a benefit concert that went so well they agreed to resume the trio. That year they released the album Reunion and embarked on an ambitious concert schedule that they maintained until the present day, despite Traver’s diagnosis of leukemia in 2004. The group also continued their political activism, taking on such causes as human rights in Central and South America, homelessness, and world hunger among many other issues. Mary Travers died of cancer on September 16 at the age of 72.
Sources: Rolling Stone website (linked above) and Allmusic
You Tubes
P, P & M singing John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane, their only number one hit single, and one of my favorite songs.
If I Had a Hammer, a protest anthem by Pete Seeger, sung by P, P & M at the Newport Folk Festival of 1963.
Blowin in the Wind, an elegant presentation.
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1 comment:
Thanks for the short and sweet bio. I just got back from Peter and Pauls tribute to Mary...it was something!
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