MacGregor was born May 6, 1948, in
St. Paul,
Minnesota, United States. Signed to
Ariola Records America, MacGregor released her debut single, "
Torn Between Two Lovers", in late 1976; it became a smash hit by February 1977. The new year saw the single top both the
pop and
adult contemporary charts and was certified as a
gold record. In addition, it reached #3 on
Billboard's Country chart and also reached No. 4 on the
UK Singles Chart. Two further singles from the album of the same name, also written and produced by Yarrow, charted but were overwhelmed by the success of the title track. MacGregor admitted in
The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by
Fred Bronson that she hated her own chart-topper, chiefly because she had little sympathy for the narrator of "Torn Between Two Lovers", a woman who confesses to her husband that she is having an affair, but pleads with her husband to stay with her and accept the situation. MacGregor also said that the song indirectly led to the breakup of her own marriage, because her career kept her away from home so often that her relationship with her husband strained, and they decided to separate. "Good Friend" was later added to her third and self-titled final album. In 1980, MacGregor won best song and best performance at the
World Popular Song Festival in
Tokyo, Japan with "What's the Use" which she had co-written with David Bluefield. For the 1981 Japanese
anime film
Adieu Galaxy Express 999, MacGregor wrote and performed two songs. They were "Sayonara" and "Love Light". In 1983,
Mike Love (of
The Beach Boys) and MacGregor performed "
Do You Hear What I Hear" from ''Scrooge's Rock N Roll Christmas''. In the mid-1980s, MacGregor performed in nightclubs around the Central Coast of California with Mary and the Blue Jays, a trio composed of MacGregor, James Royce on bass, and
Jim Kennedy on guitar. In 1999, she teamed up with fellow musician friends, Joe Ghiglia and John Holt, to form The Mary MacGregor Band. The result was an album called
Perfect Yellow House. She is also mentioned in the liner notes of 1976's
The Steamboat Album as doing vocals for one of the tracks, "Rabbit Ears". The album was recorded by Yampa River Records in
Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She now lives in California, has remarried, has two children and is retired. ==Discography==