Peter Yarrow of folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary dies at 86

LOS ANGELES — Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk-music trio whose impassioned harmonies transfixed millions as they lifted their voices in favor of civil rights and against war, has died. He was 86.

Yarrow, who also co-wrote the group’s most enduring song, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” died Tuesday in New York, publicist Ken Sunshine said. Yarrow had been battling bladder cancer for the past four years.

During an incredible run of success spanning the 1960s, Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers released six Billboard Top 10 singles, two No. 1 albums and won five Grammys.

They also brought early exposure to Bob Dylan by turning two of his songs, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” into Billboard Top 10 hits as they helped lead an American renaissance in folk music. They performed “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the 1963 March on Washington at which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

After an eight-year hiatus to pursue solo careers, the trio reunited in 1978 for a “Survival Sunday,” an anti-nuclear-power concert that Yarrow had organized in Los Angeles. They would remain together until Travers’ death in 2009. Upon her passing, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform both separately and together.

Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

You May Also Like

Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez's Wedding Guest List Leaks Out (& It's A Slap In The Face To Trump)

Taylor Hill/Getty Images Lauren…

Anthony Albanese sends a blunt four word message to Trump over US tariff threats

By HARRISON CHRISTIAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 19:43 EDT, 31 March…

Katy is exposing Australia's shameful food waste epidemic

She’s witnessed millions of tonnes of surplus edible food carelessly thrown into…

I'm Almost Wistful for the Days of Principled, Functional Political Opposition

It is imperative that I note at the top here that…