Early years and popularity (1961–1969) Manager
Albert Grossman created Peter, Paul and Mary in 1961, after auditioning several singers in the New York folk scene, including
Dave Van Ronk, who was rejected as too idiosyncratic and uncommercial, and
Carolyn Hester. After rehearsing Yarrow, Stookey and Travers out of town in Boston and Miami, Grossman booked them into
The Bitter End, a coffee house, nightclub and popular
folk music venue in New York City's
Greenwich Village. The group recorded their debut album,
Peter, Paul and Mary, and it was released by Warner Bros. the following year. It included "
Lemon Tree", "
500 Miles", and the
Pete Seeger hit tunes "
If I Had a Hammer" (subtitled "The Hammer Song") and "
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" The album was listed in the
Billboard Top Ten for 10 months, including seven weeks in the No. 1 position. It remained a main catalog-seller for decades to come, eventually selling over two million copies, earning
double platinum certification from the
RIAA in the United States alone. In 1963 the group released "
Puff, the Magic Dragon", with music by Yarrow and words based on a poem that had been written by a fellow student at
Cornell,
Leonard Lipton. Despite rumors that the song refers to drugs, it is actually about the lost innocence of childhood. The same year, they appeared as the "mystery guest" on the
CBS TV game show ''
What's My Line?'' in which
Dorothy Kilgallen correctly guessed their identity. That year the group performed "If I Had a Hammer" and "
Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, best remembered for
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "
I Have a Dream" speech. The
Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind" was one of their biggest hit singles. They also sang other Dylan songs, such as "
The Times They Are a-Changin'", "
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", In 1963 while in
London, on one or possibly more occasions they recorded 5 songs in front of a live television audience for the UK regional television folk and blues music series
Hullabaloo, presented by the Scottish folksinger
Rory McEwen; these sessions were released on DVD in 2020. In December 1969 "
Leaving on a Jet Plane", written by the group's friend
John Denver, became their only No. 1 single (as well as their final top 40 pop hit) and the group's sixth million-selling gold single. The track first appeared on their million-selling platinum certified
Album 1700 in 1967 (which also contained their No. 9 hit "
I Dig Rock and Roll Music"). After
Eugene McCarthy's strong showing in the 1968
New Hampshire presidential primary, the group recorded "Eugene McCarthy For President (If You Love Your Country)" endorsing McCarthy, which was released without a record label. "
Day Is Done", a No. 21 hit in June 1969 from the trio's Grammy Award-winning album
Peter, Paul and Mommy, was the last Hot 100 hit the trio recorded.
Breakup (1970–1978) The trio broke up in 1970 to pursue solo careers. Also that year, Yarrow was convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl; in 1981, he received a
presidential pardon from
Jimmy Carter. During 1971 and 1972 Warner released a debut solo album, with the same style cover, by each member of the group. Travers did concerts and lectures across the United States. She also produced, wrote, and starred in a BBC-TV series. Stookey formed a Christian music group, the Body Works Band, and wrote "
The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" for Yarrow's marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of
Eugene McCarthy. Britain's
Petula Clark also recorded a version of the song, which in 1973 charted strongly in the UK, Australia and elsewhere. Yarrow co-wrote and produced Mary MacGregor's
Torn Between Two Lovers (No. 1, 1977) and earned an Emmy for three animated TV specials based on "Puff the Magic Dragon". While the group was de facto broken up and touring separately, it still managed to come together for a series of reunions before officially coming back together again. In 1972, the trio reunited for
Together for McGovern, a concert at
Madison Square Garden to support
George McGovern's presidential campaign, and again in 1978 for a concert to protest
nuclear energy. This concert was followed by a 1978 summer reunion tour, including a September 3 evening performance at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre. An album,
Reunion, was released by Warner in 1978.
Reunion (1981–2009) Their 1978 summer reunion tour was so popular that the group decided to reunite more or less permanently in 1981. They continued to record albums and tour, playing around 45 shows a year, until Travers's 2009 death. After their reunion, double-bassist Dick Kniss (who had been their bassist in their studio recordings and with their 1960s tours) rejoined the group. Starting in 1990, multi-instrumentalist
Paul Prestopino also joined the group. According to the flow of the times, they derived a way to change the lyrics of their songs, for example changing
boys in the "Puff" became
girls and boys. The trio received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 1, 1990. In 2004, Travers was diagnosed with
leukemia, leading to the cancellation of that year's remaining tour dates. She received a
bone marrow transplant. She and the rest of the trio resumed their tour on December 9, 2005, with a holiday performance at
Carnegie Hall. The trio canceled several dates of their summer 2007 tour, as Travers had to undergo a second surgery. That same year, Peter, Paul and Mary were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On January 7, 2025, Yarrow died of bladder cancer at age 86. With his death, Stookey is the last surviving member of the group. ==Discography==