Peter, Paul and Mary singer Peter Yarrow has died, aged 86

7 January 2025, 19:44

Peter Yarrow from the American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died aged 86.

He reportedly died after battling bladder cancer, having been diagnosed four years ago.

Peter Yarrow performed lead vocals on 'Puff, the Magic Dragon', 'The Great Mandella' and 'Day Is Done', which he either wrote or co-wrote with Noel Paul Stookey.

Stookey is now the last surviving member of the group, following Mary Travers' death in 2009.

Stookey told the New York Times that Yarrow was his “creative, irrepressible, spontaneous and musical younger brother” whom he “grew to be grateful for, and to love, the mature-beyond-his-years wisdom and inspiring guidance he shared with me like an older brother. Perhaps Peter was both of the brothers I never had and I shall deeply miss both of him.”

In the 1960s, the trio had six US top 10 hits, with their cover of 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' reaching number one.

Peter, Paul and Mary - Blowing in the Wind

In August 1963, the trio joined the March on Washington and sang a cover of Bob Dylan’s 'Blowin’ in the Wind' on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, helping cement the song’s legacy as an anthem of the civil rights movement.

Born on May 31st, 1938, in New York City, Yarrow attended the High School of Music and Art before graduating from Cornell University. In 1961, he joined forces with Mary Travers and Noel 'Paul' Stookey to form Peter, Paul and Mary.

The trio's pristine harmonies and earnest delivery of both traditional and contemporary folk songs resonated deeply with audiences seeking meaning and connection during turbulent times.

The group's breakthrough came with their 1962 self-titled debut album, which included their version of 'If I Had a Hammer'.

Though Peter, Paul and Mary disbanded in 1970, they reunited frequently to perform and record until Travers's death in 2009. Yarrow continued to tour and perform, both solo and with Stookey, maintaining his commitment to social causes and music education.

His later years were occasionally overshadowed by controversy stemming from a 1970 morals charge, for which he received a presidential pardon from Jimmy Carter in 1981.

Yarrow is survived by his daughter Bethany and son Christopher, both musicians themselves, as well as multiple grandchildren.

In 1969, Yarrow married Mary Beth McCarthy, a niece of the Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. They divorced but later remarried in 2022.