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Mary Allin Travers

Published Tuesday 27 October 2009 at 11:50 by Lee Wilkinson

Singer-songwriter and political activist Mary Allin Travers was a member of the popular folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 9, 1936 to journalistic parents, Travers and her family moved to New York when she was just a toddler.

Growing up in the city’s Greenwich Village, Travers became captivated with the local folk scene. This led to appearances at Carnegie Hall, a recording with Pete Seeger and a short stint in the Broadway show The Next President.

Hooking up with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, the threesome, managed by Albert Grossman, released their debut album in 1962. Tall with flowing blonde hair and a pure soprano voice, Travers stood out between her two beatnik-looking comrades sporting Van Dyke beards.

Peter, Paul and Mary enjoyed half a dozen top-ten singles in America and became regular performers at civil liberties and anti-Vietnam War rallies. Their biggest transatlantic success came with the John Denver song Leaving On A Jet Plane at the end of the decade, after which the group disbanded to pursue solo careers.

Travers released five albums during the seventies and campaigned for human rights issues, before the trio reunited to resume performing and advocating social justice.

After battling leukaemia, Travers died of complications arising from chemotherapy on September 16, aged 72. She is survived by her fourth husband, Ethan Robbins, and daughters Erika and Alicia.

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