The Songwriters Hall of Fame is saddened by the loss of singer/songwriter/advocate and 2006 Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Awardee Mary Allin Travers, one-third of one of history’s most successful folk-singing groups; Peter, Paul and Mary.
She was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Robert Travers and Virginia Coigney, both of whom were journalists and active organizers for The Newspaper Guild, a trade union. In 1938, the family moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, where Travers, while in high school, joined Pete Seeger’s backup group The Song Swappers. The Song Swappers recorded a total of four albums for Folkways in 1955, all with Seeger.
Then teaming up with Peter Yarrow and Noel “Paul” Stookey, the group Peter, Paul and Mary was born in 1961. No American folk group has lasted longer or amassed a more loyal following than Peter, Paul and Mary, and during its now legendary career, the trio won five Grammy’s, produced 13 Top 40 hits, of which 6 ascended into the Top 10 - as well as eight gold and five platinum albums. Travers soaring voice and signature harmonies were instrumental in PP&M’s achievement of a rarefied level of commercial success without compromise, while continuing a centuries-old tradition of people raising their voices in song for the sake of freedom.
Through the years, their message has been expressed through traditional ballads like “The Three Ravens” and “Take Off Your Old Coat,” the work of such latter-day poets as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Laura Nyro, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and John Denver, and in songs penned by the group itself. It’s a canon of classics-indelible, important songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer,” “Cruel War,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “500 Miles,” “Lemon Tree,” “In the Early Morning Rain,” “All My Trials,” and “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” among others.
Most recently, their individual and collective efforts have focused on such crucial issues as gun violence against children, the rights and organizing efforts of strawberry pickers in California, homelessness and world hunger. “We’ve always been involved with issues that deal with the fundamental human rights of people, whether that means the right to political freedom or the right to breathe air that’s clean,” Travers pointed out.
Mary Travers died on September 16, and is survived by husband, Ethan Robbins, two daughters, Erika Marshall and Alicia Travers, half-brother John Travers, a sister, and two grandchildren.