Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter greatest recognized for his work within the people group Peter, Paul & Mary, whose profession was later overshadowed by a conviction for molesting a 14-year-old woman, has died on the age of 86.
Based on a consultant, Yarrow died on Tuesday, January seventh, following a protracted battle with bladder most cancers.
Yarrow started performing whereas a pupil at Cornell College in New York. After graduating, he grew to become immersed within the metropolis’s fledging people scene, ultimately crossing paths with music supervisor Albert Grossman, who pitched him on the thought of forming a brand new age people group. Yarrow was quickly paired with Mary Travers and Noel Stookey to type Peter, Paul & Mary, and the trio launched their eponymous debut album by way of Warner Brothers in 1962. That includes songs together with “Lemon Tree,” “500 Miles,” and a canopy of Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer,” the album proved a mammoth hit, spending seven weeks at No. 1 and occurring to be licensed double platinum.
The next yr noticed Peter, Paul & Mary construct on their reputation with their single “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” in addition to a canopy of “Blowin’ within the Wind” by a then-relatively unknown songwriter named Bob Dylan, who was additionally managed by Grossman. Peter, Paul & Mary’s interpretation of “Blowin’ within the Wind,” in addition to a number of different Dylan covers, helped spark curiosity in Dylan’s sophomore album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’. Additionally in 1963, Peter, Paul & Mary appeared on stage throughout Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, the place they carried out “Blowin’ within the Wind.”
Peter, Paul & Mary continued to launch music all through the Sixties, and earned their first and solely No. 1 single with the John Denver-penned “Leaving on a Jet Airplane.”
In 1970, shortly after the group disbanded to pursue solo careers, Yarrow was convicted of molesting a Barbara Winter. A yr earlier, Winter, then 14 years previous, and her 17-year-old sister, visited Yarrow’s resort room looking for an autograph. Winter mentioned that Yarrow answered the door bare and proceeded to masturbate in entrance of the ladies. Yarrow served three months in jail for the conviction and was later granted a presidential pardon by Jimmy Carter.
Peter, Paul & Mary initially reunited in 1972 in help of George McGovern’s presidential marketing campaign, and completely reassembled starting within the Eighties. They launched music and toured persistently up till Travers’ demise in 2009.