Mary Allin Travers

 Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009)

Travers was a member of the folk music group Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and (Noel) Paul Stookey. Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most successful folk-singing groups of the 1960s. Unlike most folk musicians of the early 1960s who were a part of the burgeoning music scene in the Village, Travers grew up there. She sang in the contralto range. The group's first album came out in 1962 and immediately scored hits with their versions of "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree". The former won them Grammys for best folk recording and best performance by a vocal group. Their next album, Moving, included the hit tale of innocence lost, "Puff, The Magic Dragon", which reached No. 2 on the [U.S.] charts. The trio's third album, In the Wind, featured three songs by the 22-year-old Bob Dylan. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and "Blowin' in the Wind" reached the [U.S.] top 10, bringing Dylan's material to a massive audience; the latter shipped 300,000 copies during one two-week period. The group broke up in 1970, shortly after having their biggest U.K. hit, singer/songwriter John Denver's iconic ballad "Leaving on a Jet 'Plane". Travers subsequently pursued a solo career and recorded five albums: Mary (1971), Morning Glory (1972), All My Choices (1973), Circles (1974) and It's in Everyone of Us (1978). The group re-formed in 1978, toured extensively and issued many new albums. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2004 Travers was diagnosed with leukemia. A bone marrow transplant in 2005 induced a temporary remission, but she died on September 16, 2009 at age 72. She is buried at Umpawaug Cemetery in Redding, CT.