Mary Travers, the female third of the wildly popular folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, whose anthems lent passionate voice to the 1960s protest movement, died yesterday after battling leukaemia, her publicist said. She was 72. "She passed away today at Danbury hospital in Danbury, Connecticut," Heather Lylis said. Travers and her fellow band mates, Peter Yarrow and Noel "Paul" Stookey, burst onto the American folk music scene in 1961 with an influential style punctuated by rich three-part harmonies and activist politics.
The honey-voiced singer with signature blonde bangs emerged from the coffeehouse's of New York's Greenwich Village and, flanked by her two male guitarist companions, stepped into superstardom with a string of hits including their version of "If I had a Hammer," their singalong anthem about racial equality, as well as the single "Lemon Tree," the anti-war ballad "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and the whimsical "Puff the Magic Dragon."
Despite their folk roots, the band quickly achieved commercial success, with their self-titled 1962 debut record reaching number one on the US charts and selling more than two million copies. Their spruced up version of "Blowin' in the Wind" became a popular interpretation of fellow folk singer Bob Dylan's anti-war anthem, and Peter, Paul and Mary performed the song at the 1963 civil rights March on Washington.
"Mary helped awaken mainstream America to the humanising message of folk music. She reached millions of people in the struggle to guarantee social justice for all and has left a profound and lasting impact on all of us," Lylis added. In 1969, their cover of the John Denver song "Leaving On A Jet Plane" became their only number one single. The trio broke up in 1970 to pursue solo careers, but never matched the success they enjoyed as a band.
Travers dived into activist work, speaking out about the challenges facing Russian "Refusnik" Jews whose applications to emigrate from the Soviet Union were denied, in support of human rights in Central America, and against South African apartheid. The trio reunited often for concerts, but took a pause when Travers was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. She eventually had a bone-marrow transplant, side effects of which contributed to her death, Lylis said.
But not before reuniting for several tours that saw the group play dozens of concerts in recent years, including their final performance together in May 2009 in New Jersey, according to Lylis. Yarrow, 71, said in a statement that Travers "handled her declining health in the bravest, most generous way imaginable," never complaining about the illness that robbed her of her ability to perform in her last months of life.
He said when Travers was on stage she sang "honestly and with complete authenticity". "The trio's growth, our creativity, our ability to emerge over the years completely accepting of one another, warts and all, was a miracle. This gift existed, I believe, because of the music itself, which elicited from each of us the best of who we were," he added. Stookey said in a statement that Travers "could be vexing and vulnerable in the same breath".
"As an activist, she was brave, outspoken and inspiring... As a performer, her charisma was a barely contained nervous energy," he said. *AFP
