Peter Yarrow dies at 86

Singer-songwriter succumbed to bladder cancer

NEW YORK:

Peter Yarrow – one-third of the beloved folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, whose anthems epitomised the 1960s protest movement – died on Tuesday in New York. He was 86 years old.

His longtime publicist told AFP in a statement that Yarrow, the songwriter behind hits like Puff the Magic Dragon, had been battling bladder cancer for four years.

"Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life," Yarrow's daughter Bethany said in the statement.

"The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest," she continued. "He always believed, with his whole heart, that singing together could change the world."

Yarrow and his bandmates Mary Travers and Noel "Paul" Stookey burst onto the American folk music scene in 1961 with an influential style punctuated by rich three-part harmonies and progressive activist politics.

Born May 31, 1938, in Manhattan to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Yarrow studied painting before turning to singing and guitar as a student at Cornell University. After graduating he moved to New York and became a regular on Greenwich Village's burgeoning folk scene.

The band blended folk roots and commercial success: their self-titled 1962 debut reigned over the US charts and sold more than two million copies. Their rendition of Blowin' in the Wind became a popular interpretation of fellow folk singer Bob Dylan's anti-war anthem; Peter, Paul and Mary performed the song at the 1963 civil rights March in Washington, cementing its place in the folk activist canon.

Their version of the progressive protest song If I Had a Hammer – written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays – earned the trio two of their five Grammy wins.

Their other hits included Day Is Done and The Great Mandala. The band also covered John Denver's Leavin' on a Jet Plane to chart-topping success. AFP