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Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dies of leukaemia
The Peter, Paul and Mary singer has died after a long battle with bone cancer
Mary Travers, one third of the 1960s folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, has died of leukaemia at the age of 72. Along with her bandmates, Peter Yarrow (above left) and Noel Stookey (aka Paul, centre), she came to represent the hippy ideal of the 60s and recorded some of the period's most enduring songs, including If I Had a Hammer.
The group adopted an instantly recognisable beatnik look, with the tall, blonde singer Travers flanked by two goatee beard-wearing guitarists. The trio mixed their music with liberal politics, both on-stage and off. They were strong supporters of the civil rights movement and opponents of the Vietnam War and their version of If I Had a Hammer became an anthem for racial equality.
Other hits for the trio included Lemon Tree, Leaving on a Jet Plane and Puff (The Magic Dragon). They also famously covered Bob Dylan's Blowin in the Wind, which they performed at the civil rights movement's March on Washington in 1963, where Martin Luther King delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
Travers was born in Kentucky but her family soon moved to New York, where they lived in the same building as Pete Seeger, who also became a folk icon. She performed with Seeger early in her career before she was discovered by Albert Grossman, who went on to become Dylan's manager, and he recruited to the trio.
The singer had battled leukaemia for many years. She had a bone marrow transplant in 2006, but her condition deteriorated this year and she died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. ·
