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Ryan Patrick Jones
-American singer-songwriter Peter Yarrow, who rose to fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died on Tuesday at the age of 86, his publicist said.
Yarrow died at his New York home surrounded by family after a four-year battle with bladder cancer, publicist Ken Sunshine said in a statement.
“Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the final chapter of his magnificent life,” Yarrow’s daughter Bethany said in a statement provided to Sunshine. “The world knows Peter Yarrow, an iconic grassroots activist, but the man behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful and wise as his lyrics suggest.”
Yarrow formed the band Peter, Paul and Mary with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. The group helped popularize the early work of Bob Dylan and performed hits such as “Puff, The Magic Dragon”, which Yarrow co-wrote.
The band’s version of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” helped turn the song into a civil rights anthem and introduced his music to a wider audience. The group also scored hits with the songs “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, co-written by folk artist Pete Seeger.
The group’s other hits included covers of Will Holt’s “Lemon Tree” and John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
The members of the trio were distinguished by their political activity. They performed at the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963 and at demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War.
Throughout his life, Yarrow advocated for social change and causes, including equal rights, peace, the environment, gender equality, homelessness, hospice care, public broadcasting and education.
In 1970, he served three months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl who went to his hotel room for an autograph. Yarrow received a presidential pardon from President Jimmy Carter in 1981.
Stookey, the only surviving member of the trio, praised Yarrow’s creative influence and said he would greatly miss his former bandmate.
“Because I was an only child and grew up without siblings, I may have gotten all the attention from my parents, but with Peter, Paul and Mary, I suddenly had a brother named Peter Yarrow,” Stookey said.
“And although his comfort in the city and my love of country separated us geographically, our different points of view were often celebrated in our friendship and our music,” he added.
Yarrow is survived by his wife Marybeth, son Christopher, daughter Bethany and granddaughter Valentina.
This article was created from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
