Coffeehouse Folk Icon, Mary Travers, Dies At 72

Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary fame has passed at the age of 72. Mary lived in Redding, Connecticut and was battling leukemia. She had complications from chemotherapy associated with a bone-marrow transplant (New York Times). Mary`s singing with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary has left a strong imprint on music history and to wider contours of the American experience, with her contributions to the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements of the 1960s.

Mary Travers projected a wonderful image as the consummate Greenwich Village folk-singer with her straight-blond hair, sincere demeanor, and gifted singing voice. Her perfect vocals and harmonies with her partners, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, made such songs as If I Had a Hammer and Blowin` in the Wind anthems of the protest scene. The first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, went to number one on the charts (and stayed there for seven weeks) in March of 1962.

Some of their other hits were Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, Lemon Tree, and Puff the Magic Dragon *(an odd parable about a dragon`s quest to grow up?). Later on they had a hit with Leaving On a Jet Plane (1967), even after the British Invasion had tempered the impact of the Folk Movement. The group has picked up five Grammys, and in my opinion, leaves a lasting impact on history. (sources-CNN and The NY Times-William Grimes)

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