ZUM TOD DES US-AMERIKANISCHEN FOLKSÄNGERS UND SONGWRITERS PETER YARROW (PETER, PAUL AND MARY)

Der am 31. Mai 1938 in New York City geborene US-amerikanische Folksänger, Gitarrist und Songwriter Peter Yarrow (Bild) ist am 7. Januar 2025 ebenda gestorben. Yarrow war Mitglied des vor allem in den 1960er-Jahren äusserst erfolgreichen Trios Peter, Paul and Mary. Das Trio war Vorbild vieler, so auch von Peter, Sue und Marc in der Schweiz. Peter Yarrow schrieb zusammen mit Leonard Lipton den bekanntesten Song der Gruppe, «Puff, the Magic Dragon» (1962). Darüber hinaus engagierte er sich politisch, so etwa gegen den Vietnamkrieg. Im Jahr 2000 gründete er Operation Respect, ein Projekt für die Bildung und Förderung von Kindern in Ländern wie Vietnam, Südafrika oder Argentinien. Peter, Paul and Mary traten bis zum Tod von Mary Travers im Jahr 2009 gemeinsam auf; Yarrow gab zudem auch Konzerte mit seiner Tochter Bethany Yarrow, die ebenfalls Musikerin ist. (*)

Peter Yarrow, 2016 - Foto: Marsha Miller, https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbjlibrarynow/26676236456/ - Public domain - Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DIG13875MM_0256.jpg

Bild: Peter Yarrow, 2016 – Foto: Marsha Miller, https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbjlibrarynow/26676236456/ – Public domain – Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DIG13875MM_0256.jpg

Peter Yarrow, the Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary, Dies at 86

The folk trio he formed with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers became a pop phenomenon, scoring hits like “If I Had a Hammer” and “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

On many of the trio’s recordings they split the vocal parts equally, braiding Mr. Yarrow’s precise tenor around Noel Paul Stookey’s gentle baritone and Mary Travers’s warm contralto. But Mr. Yarrow also had some prominent lead vocals as well, fronting such well-known group recordings as “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Day Is Done” and “The Great Mandala,” all of which he either wrote or co-wrote. “Puff” became a No. 2 Billboard hit, while “Day Is Done” grazed the Top 20.

Jim Farber

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/arts/music/peter-yarrow-dead.html

Peter Yarrow, the soothing voice and songwriter behind the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary

Throughout his career, Yarrow also co-wrote the majority of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s songs, including “Day Is Done” and “The Great Mandala,” and many more with Paul Stookey, the surviving member of the group, and Travers, who died in 2009 at age 72.

Peter, Paul, and Mary had 12 Top 40 hits, including their cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which peaked at No. 2, and John Denver’s “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” in 1969, which went to No. 1.

Tina Benitez-Eves

https://americansongwriter.com/peter-yarrow-of-peter-paul-and-mary-dies-at-86/

Peter Yarrow, Folk Music Great With Peter, Paul and Mary, Dead at 86

With their distinctive three-part harmonies, Peter, Paul and Mary — with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers — became one of the biggest and most commercially successful acts to emerge out of the Greenwich Village folk scene. The group won five Grammys, released two Number One albums, and scored six Top 10 hits, including a 1962 rendition of Pete Seeger and Lee Hays’ “If I Had a Hammer,” a 1963 version of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and a 1969 take on John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” which reached Number One.

Jon Blistein

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/peter-yarrow-paul-mary-folk-singer-dead-1235193134

Peter Yarrow, one third of the beloved 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary has died at 86

With his high tenor melding seamlessly with baritone Paul Stookey and contralto Mary Travers, Yarrow and this singing partners produced some of the most beloved songs of the 1960s, taking the lead on classics “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “The Great Mandala” and “Day Is Done,” all of which he wrote or co-wrote.

Gil Kaufman

https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/peter-yarrow-dead-peter-paul-mary-singer-dies-obituary-1235870756

Yarrow was a political activist throughout his life, and wrote the anti-Vietnam War protest song «Day Is Done»

The son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Peter Yarrow grew up in New York City. He began performing folk music as an undergrad at Cornell, and met his bandmates Mary Travers and Noel Paul Stookey in the Greenwich Village folk scene. As Peter, Paul and Mary, the three saw enormous success in the early 1960s, spurred on by a song Yarrow co-wrote, «Puff, the Magic Dragon.» The group would notch six Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1969, and earn five Grammy awards.

Jeff Lunden

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-4900572/peter-yarrow-paul-mary-obituary

Peter Yarrow, one third of the chart-topping 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary — which helped popularize Bob Dylan as the voice of a generation — co-writer of the song “Puff, the Magic Dragon” and a prominent social activist, died Tuesday morning at his home in New York City (…) Peter, Paul and Mary were a leading light of the booming folk-music scene of the early 1960s, which famously centered around the nightclubs and cafes of New York’s Greenwich Village.

Jem Aswad, Chris Willman

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/peter-yarrow-peter-paul-mary-dead-1236268691

Yarrow’s songs were often political, telling the story of a war objector on hunger strike in The Great Mandella, from 1967, and suggesting to his son, on Day Is Done, that his generation could make a better world.

Laura Snapes

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jan/07/peter-yarrow-of-folk-trio-peter-paul-and-mary-dies-aged-86

Bild: Peter Yarrow, 2008 – Foto: Philkon Phil Konstantin, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Philkon, http://americanindian.net/kusi/yarrow/index.html – Lizenz: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en – Datei: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PeterYarrowByPhilKonstantin.jpg

Murió el cantante Peter Yarrow a los 86 años

Había saltado a la fama en la década del 60 por su trío musical Peter, Paul y Mary; era reconocido por su activismo político

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/agencias/el-cantante-folk-peter-yarrow-de-peter-paul-and-mary-muere-a-los-86-anos-nid07012025/

Addio a Peter Yarrow del trio Peter, Paul & Mary

Tra le registrazioni più famose di Yarrow con Paul Stookey e Mary Travers ci sono Puff the magic dragon (numero 2 di Billboard), Day is done, che invitava i giovani a costruire un mondo migliore, e The great mandella (The wheel of life), storia di un obiettore della guerra in Vietnam in sciopero della fame.

Sempre schierati in senso progressista e per i diritti civili, nell’agosto 1963 i tre cantanti folk parteciparono alla Marcia su Washington del reverendo Martin Luther King dove eseguirono una loro versione di Blowin‘ in the wind di Bob Dylan sui gradini del Lincoln Memorial, contribuendo a far diventare la canzone un inno del movimento contro la segregazione razziale.

https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/musica/2025/01/07/news/peter_yarrow_morto_componente_trio_peter_paul__mary-423924952/

Décès du musicien Peter Yarrow

Peter Yarrow est né le 31 mai 1938 à Manhattan dans une famille d’immigrés ukrainiens juifs, avant d’étudier la peinture et se tourner vers la guitare et le chant alors qu’il est étudiant à l’Université Cornell.

Le premier album du groupe en 1962 mêlant racines folk et son plus moderne se vend à deux millions d’exemplaires.

Leur interprétation de «Blowin› in the Wind», composée peu de temps auparavant par Bob Dylan, rythma la célébrissime manifestation pacifiste de Washington emmenée par Martin Luther King le 28 août 1963. Le trio a remporté cinq Grammy Awards, dont deux pour «If I Had a Hammer» de Pete Seeger et Lee Hays.

https://www.lematin.ch/story/etats-unis-deces-du-musicien-peter-yarrow-103253641

Biblisch anmutender Bandname

Yarrow war Teil des „Folk-Revival“, als er in der Szene des Greenwich Village in New York erste musikalische Schritte machte. Beim Newport Folk Festival brachte ihn der Manager Albert Grossman zunächst mit Mary Travers zusammen, die dann die Ergänzung von Noel Paul Stookey vorschlug. So entstand das Trio mit dem biblisch anmutenden Namen Peter, Paul and Mary, das bald darauf großen Erfolg hatte.

faz.net/wiel

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/peter-yarrow-vom-trio-peter-paul-and-mary-gestorben-110217463.html

Audios / Videos:

Peter Yarrow, Oral History NAMM, 2017

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/peter-yarrow

Peter, Paul & Mary – «Puff The Magic Dragon» Live 1963 (Reelin‘ In The Years Archive)