Folk singer Peter Yarrow, the Peter in Peter, Paul and Mary, passed away Tuesday at the age of 86, his publicist confirmed to ABC Audio. Yarrow died in New York after battling bladder cancer.
Peter, Paul and Mary, which also featured Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, rose to fame in the folk music scene of the 1960s, with their self-titled debut album one of the few folk albums to hit #1 on the Billboard chart.
The popular trio was known for such songs as “Puff, The Magic Dragon” and “I Dig Rock And Roll Music,” as well as covers of Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” and Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “The Times They Are A Changin’.” Yarrow is actually one of the characters in the recently released Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, played by actor Nick Pupo.
In 1970 Yarrow was convicted of taking “improper liberties” with a 14-year-old girl and served three months in prison. He was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981.
With Yarrow’s death, Stookey is the last surviving member of the trio. Travers passed away in 2009 at the age of 72.
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