Peter Yarrow, a pivotal figure in the folk music revival of the 1960s as part of the vocal group Peter, Paul and Mary, passed away on Tuesday at his residence in New York. He was 86 years old.
His publicist, Ken Sunshine, confirmed that Yarrow’s death was due to bladder cancer.
As the group’s tenor, Yarrow’s warm and sensitive vocals complemented Noel Paul Stookey’s rich baritone and Mary Travers’ bright contralto. He co-wrote and lent his voice to one of their most notable hits, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” inspired by a poem from Leonard Lipton, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.
The song narrates the tale of a boy and his imaginary friend, whom he eventually outgrows. For years, there were rumors that it had references to marijuana, an assertion Yarrow consistently rejected. CBS aired an animated special based on the song in 1978, featuring Burgess Meredith as the voice of Puff.
Other famous songs from the trio include their beautifully harmonized versions of Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song),” Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”—which they performed during the momentous March on Washington featuring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech—and John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” which topped the Hot 100 in 1969.
They earned five Grammy Awards, achieved two No. 1 albums, and received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
With Yarrow’s passing, Stookey remains the last surviving member of Peter, Paul and Mary; Travers passed away in 2009 at the age of 72.
Stookey remembered Yarrow as his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother,” expressing gratitude for the profound wisdom and guidance Yarrow imparted, likening it to that of an older brother.
“Politically insightful and emotionally open, perhaps Peter was the brother I never had… and I shall greatly miss both of him,” Stookey remarked.
Like many in the 1960s folk revival, Peter, Paul and Mary leveraged their popularity to support various progressive political initiatives, including civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. However, Yarrow faced legal trouble when he served three months in jail in 1970 after pleading guilty to “indecent liberties” with a 14-year-old girl who had come to his hotel room for an autograph; he answered the door unclothed. He received a pardon from President Jimmy Carter in 1981, who passed away last month at the age of 100.
“I do not seek to minimize or excuse my actions, and I cannot sufficiently convey my apologies and sorrow for the distress and harm I have caused,” Yarrow stated in a 2019 interview with The New York Times after a scheduled performance at a regional arts festival was canceled.
Born on May 31, 1938, in New York to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Yarrow began his musical journey while studying psychology at Cornell University. After graduating, he performed in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village. He made a mark at the Newport Folk Festival in 1960 and met Albert Grossman, a key music figure who connected him with Stookey and Travers, leading to the formation of Peter, Paul and Mary. Their debut album, released in 1962, became a massive success, selling over 2 million copies.
Through the rest of the decade, Peter, Paul and Mary remained active with multiple LPs and endorsed Eugene McCarthy’s presidential run in 1968. Yarrow married McCarthy’s niece, Mary Beth McCarthy, later divorcing and then remarrying her in 2022, according to the New York Times. He also served as a board member for the Newport festival and was present at the soundboard in 1965 during Dylan’s infamous electric set featured in the biopic “A Complete Unknown.”
Following the release of “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” Peter, Paul and Mary disbanded, with each member pursuing solo careers. They reunited in 1972 to support George McGovern’s presidential campaign. In 1977, Mary MacGregor reached the Hot 100 with “Torn Between Two Lovers,” a song Yarrow co-wrote with Phillip Jarrell. They came together again in 1978, continuing to perform and record until Travers’ death, after which Yarrow and Stookey occasionally performed as a duo.
Yarrow is survived by his two children and a grandchild, alongside his connection with McCarthy.
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