The Songwriters Hall of Fame was saddened to learn of the passing of 2006 Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Peter Yarrow.
Peter Yarrow was an American singer and songwriter who found dame as a member of the 1960s fold trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton) one of the group’s best known hits, “Puff the Magic Dragon” (1963). He was also a political activist and social activist, and supported causes that ranged from opposition to the Vietnam War to school anti-bullying programs.
Warner Bros. Records released Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Lemon Tree” as a single in early 1962. The trio then released “If I Had a Hammer”, a 1949 song by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, written to protest the imprisonment of Harlem City Councilman Benjamin J. Davis Jr. under the Smith Act. “If I Had a Hammer” garnered two GRAMMY Awards in 1962. The trio’s first album, the eponymous Peter, Paul & Mary, remained in the Top 10 for ten months and in the Top 20 for two years; it sold more than two million copies. The group toured extensively and recorded numerous albums, both live and in the studio.
In June 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary released a 7” single of “Blowin’ in the Wind” by the them-relatively unknown Bob Dylan. “Blowin’ in the Wind” sold 300,000 copies in the first week of release; by August it was number two on the Billboard pop chart, with sales exceeding one million copies. On August 28, 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary appeared on stage wit the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. at his historic March on Washington where their performance of “Blowin’ in the Wind” established it as a civil rights anthem. Their version also spent weeks on Billboards easy listening chart. By 1964 the 26-year-old Yarrow had joined the Board of the Newport Folk Festival, where he had performed as an unknown just four years earlier.
Yarrow’s songwriting helped to create some of Peter, Paul and Mary’s best-known songs, including “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “Day Is Done,” “Light One Candle” and “The Great Mandela.” He wrote and produced hits for other singers as well, most notably Mary MacGregor’s #1 hit, “Torn Between Two Lovers.” As a member of the trio, he earned a 1996 Emmy nomination for the Great Performance special Lifelines Live, a highly acclaimed celebration of folk music and introducing a new generation of singer-songwriters. He also produced three CBS TV specials based on “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” which earned him a Emmy nomination. Yarrow was instrumental in founding the New Folks Concert series at the Newport Folk Festival and the Kerrville Folk Festival. He wrote and produced hits for other singers as well, including “Torn Between Two Lovers,” a number one hit for Mary McGregor.
Peter is survived by his two children, Christopher and Bethany, and his granddaughter, Valentina.
