Mary Travers

Mary Travers

Mary Allin Travers, a famous American Pop singer of early 1960’s died with leukemia at the age of 72. She died on September 16, 2009 in at Danbury Hospital in Danbury. She was surfing from leukemia since 2005. Bone-marrow transplant was successful apparently but she died with complications arising from chemotherapy . According to some resources her funeral will be held on 18 September. She was the member of folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary. It was the most famous and successful group in 1960’s. Peter Yarrow and Noel “Paul” Stookey were the other group members. Her solo discographies are. She was born in November 9, 1936, Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Her parents Robert Travers and Virginia Coigney both were journalist and worked for newspapers.

She was born in November 9, 1936, Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Her parents Robert Travers and Virginia Coigney both were journalist and worked for newspapers. She was very fond of music from her childhood and her focus was on folk music. In 1960’s she was the only female in folk music. Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died Wednesday. She was 72. Travers, who battled leukemia for several years, died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, said the band’s publicist, Heather Lylis. Travers joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s. The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of “If I Had a Hammer” became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included “Lemon Tree,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Puff (The Magic Dragon.)”

They were early champions of Bob Dylan and performed his “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the August 1963 March on Washington. And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.
The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Puff (The Magic Dragon)” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement.
They debuted at the Bitter End in 1961, and their beatnik look — a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists — was a part of their initial appeal.
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Mary Travers

Mary Travers

Mary Travers, a striking figure of power and glamour in the early-1960s folk music movement, died Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut after suffering from leukemia for several years. She was 72. She was best known as the blond with the bangs who commanded the middle microphone with Peter, Paul and Mary, a trio that brought folk music from coffeehouses to top-40 radio. They also gave much of America its first taste of the young Bob Dylan by helping to turn his "Blowin' in the Wind" into a national anthem. The group reunited several years ago to begin touring, and Travers performed with them until a few months ago, even when she needed assistance on stage.

Travers, like Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow, saw folk music both as an art and as an instrument for change. They sang a number of sociopolitical songs, which Travers later defended. "I'm not sure I want to be singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' when I'm 75," she said in one interview. "But I know I'll still be singing 'Blowin' in the Wind.' " She was born in Louisville, Ky., but grew up in Greenwich Village and came up through the New York coffeehouse circuit, singing on her own before she was put together with Stookey and Yarrow by famed manager Albert Grossman, who also managed Dylan. The trio took considerable criticism from fellow folk singers for developing a sound that some considered too "commercial" and not "authentic" enough. Travers always strongly defended the trio's sound, saying that they were in the folk tradition by making music accessible to everyone, not just academic collectors.