Peter Yarrow, one-third of the legendary folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary, died today at his residence on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 86. Mr. Yarrow passed away after a four-year battle with bladder cancer. He was also a political activist, and the trio’s music became anthems for the anti-Vietnam War movement. He was also a noted anti-bullying supporter, starting a nonprofit to combat bullying and support tolerance among children.
Yarrow’s Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Peter Yarrow was born on May 31, 1938, in Manhattan. His parents, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, divorced when he was five. His Jewish faith continued to be a guiding light for him throughout his life. He attended what later became the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where he studied painting. While attending Cornell University, he enrolled in an American folk literature class, which inspired him to start singing and playing the guitar.
After graduation, Mr. Yarrow immersed himself in the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, where his success earned him an appearance on the CBS television musical special, “Folk Sound USA.” It also earned him an invitation to play the highly regarded Newport Folk Festival, where he met his soon-to-be manager, Albert Grossman.
Grossman was looking to create a new group that was an up-tempo version of another famous folk ensemble, the Weavers. With Grossman’s help, Yarrow formed a trio with two other Village club singers, Mary Travers and Paul Stookey, and they coined the name for their group from their three first names.
Fame and Folk Success
In 1962, they recorded their first album, Peter, Paul, and Mary, which spawned their first hit, “Lemon Tree,” with Yarrow singing lead. But it was the release of their second single, “If I Had a Hammer,” which launched them into music super stardom.
The Pete Seeger-penned song won two Grammys and sold more than two million copies. And more hits followed. Their second album, “Movin’,” would produce the ethereal “Puff the Magic Dragon” and two Bob Dylan covers, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” which were both Top 10 hits.
Also, during this time, Mr. Yarrow joined the board of the Newport Folk Festival and was a key organizer of the National Mobilization to End the War, an anti-Vietnam War event held in Washington that drew an estimated half a million people. The trio also supported the 1968 presidential campaign of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy and contributed several songs to his campaign. During the campaign, he would meet a niece of Senator McCarthy’s, Marybeth McCarthy, whom he married in 1969.
As a wedding gift to the couple, Paul Stookey composed the “Wedding Song,’ which would become standard fare at weddings for many years to come. Some of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s other hits included 1967’s “I Dig Rock and Roll Music,” “Day is Done,” from 1969, and in 1970 they reached No. 1 with a song composed by their friend, John Denver, “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Shortly after that, they announced their split.
Arrest and Later Life
Part of the reason for the group’s breakup was Yarrow’s arrest and conviction for “indecent liberties” with an underage girl. Yarrow was accused of making sexual advances to a 14-year-old girl in his dressing room. He claimed they were groupies but took responsibility for his actions. He ended up serving three months of a one-to-three-year prison sentence. He received a presidential pardon from Jimmy Carter in 1981, but the incident would continue to impact his personal and professional lives until his passing.
He performed benefit concerts with Mr. Stookey and Ms. Travers in 1972 and 1978, and after the second concert, they toured continually until Ms. Travers’ death in 2009. After that, he would occasionally perform as a duet with Mr. Stookey. He later formed a trio with his daughter, Bethany, and cellist Rufus Cappadocia, who performed under the name Peter, Bethany, and Rufus.
Peter Yarrow is survived by his wife, Marybeth, and his children, son Christopher, daughter Bethany, and a granddaughter.
