Mary Travers (singer)
| Mary Travers | |
|---|---|
Travers (right) as part of Peter, Paul and Mary
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mary Allin Travers |
| Born |
November 9, 1936 Louisville, Kentucky |
| Died |
September 16, 2009 (aged 72) Danbury, Connecticut |
| Genres | Folk, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1961–2009 |
| Labels | Warner Bros., Chrysalis |
| Associated acts | Peter, Paul and Mary, Joni Mitchell, Mama Cass, John Denver |
| Website |
marytravers.com peterpaulandmary.com |
Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter and 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.
Mary Travers was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Robert Travers and Virginia Coigney, both journalists and active organizers of The Newspaper Guild, a trade union. In 1938, the family moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. Mary attended the progressive Little Red School House, where she met musical icons like Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. The latter sang her lullabies. Mary did not graduate; she left in the 11th grade to become a member of the Song Swappers folk group.
The Song Swappers sang backup for Pete Seeger on four reissue albums in 1955, when Folkways Records reissued a collection of Seeger's pro-union folk songs, "Talking Union". Travers regarded her singing as a hobby and was shy about it, but was encouraged by fellow musicians. She also was in the cast of the Broadway show The Next President.
The group Peter, Paul and Mary was formed in 1961, and was an immediate success. They shared a manager, Albert Grossman, with Bob Dylan. Their success with Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" helped propel Dylan's Freewheelin' album into the U.S. Top 30 four months after its release.
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