View source for Mary Travers

{{Short description|American folk singer (1936–2009)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Mary Travers
| image         = Mary Travers publicity portrait.jpg
| caption       = Travers in 1977
| birth_name    = Mary Allin Travers
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1936|11|09|mf=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Louisville, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|2009|9|16|1936|11|9}}
| death_place   = [[Danbury, Connecticut]], U.S.
| resting_place = Umpawaug Cemetery, [[Redding, Connecticut]], U.S.
| occupation    = Singer
| years_active  = 1955–2009
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|John Filler|1958|1960|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Barry Feinstein]]|1963|1968|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Gerald L. Taylor|1969|1975|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Ethan Robbins<br>|1991}}
}}
| children        = 2
| parents         = [[Virginia Coigney]] (mother)
| website         = {{URL|peterpaulandmary.com}}
| module          = {{Infobox musical artist
| embed           = yes
| genre           = {{hlist|[[Folk music|Folk]]|pop<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic |class=artist |id=p21116 |tab=biography |pure_url=yes }} |title=Biography of Mary Travers |first1=Craig |last1=Harris |first2=Bruce |last2= Eder |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=October 10, 2009}}</ref>}}
| instrument      = Vocals
| label           = {{hlist|[[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]]|[[Chrysalis Records|Chrysalis]]}}
| associated_acts = {{hlist|[[Peter, Paul and Mary]]|[[Joni Mitchell]]|[[Mama Cass]]|[[John Denver]]}}
}}
}}

'''Mary Allin Travers''' (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer who found fame as a member of the 1960s [[folk music|folk]] trio [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], along with [[Peter Yarrow]] and [[Paul Stookey]].<ref name = "NYTimesObit"/> Travers grew up amid the burgeoning folk scene in New York City's [[Greenwich Village]],<ref name = "NYTimesObit"/> and she released five solo albums. She was a [[contralto]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/20/arts/pop-peter-paul-and-mary.html | title=Pop: Peter, Paul and Mary | first=Stephen | last=Holden | author-link=Stephen Holden | date=March 20, 1986 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Mary Travers was born in 1936 in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], to Robert Travers and [[Virginia Coigney]], journalists and active organizers of [[The Newspaper Guild]], a trade union.<ref name="rollingstone" /> In 1938, when Robert's employer, ''[[Louisville Herald-Post|The Herald-Post]]'', closed,<ref>Associated Press story published in The Courier-Journal, June 6, 1971</ref> 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]]. Robeson sang her lullabies. Travers left school in the 11th grade to become a member of the Song Swappers folk group.<ref name="rollingstone">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mary-travers-1936-2009-20090917#ixzz3u7etJ0p5 |last=Browne |first=David |title=Mary Travers (1936–2009) |date=September 17, 2009 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=July 21, 2016}}</ref>

==Singing career==
{{main|Peter, Paul and Mary}}
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 (album)|Talking Union]]''. Travers regarded her singing as a hobby (she worked full-time as a dental technician)<ref>"Music-Makers Quit the Square (But Only for the Wintertime)", ''Village Voice'', October 26, 1955</ref> and was shy about it, but was encouraged by fellow musicians.<ref name = "NYTimesObit"/> She also was in the cast of the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] show ''The Next President''.<ref name="sfgate">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/16/entertainment/e181035D51.DTL&feed=rss.news |title=Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dead at 72 |last=Lindsay |first=Jay |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=September 16, 2009 |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=September 17, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922222642/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2009%2F09%2F16%2Fentertainment%2Fe181035D51.DTL |archive-date=September 22, 2009}}</ref>

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 ''[[The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan|Freewheelin']]'' album into the U.S. Top 30 four months after its release.<ref name = "The Times-Obituaries-2009-09-17&18">{{cite news|  work = The Times  | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/6201272/Obituary-Mary-Travers-of-Peter-Paul-and-Mary.html | date = September 17, 2009 | title = Folk singer Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary has died, aged 72 |  publisher =  News International | access-date = September 18, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | date = September 18, 2009 | title = Mary Travers: folk singer | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6838825.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100531171934/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6838825.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 31, 2010 |  work = The Times | publisher = News International | access-date =September 18, 2009}}</ref>

Peter, Paul and Mary broke up in 1970, shortly after having their biggest UK hit, singer-songwriter [[John Denver]]'s ballad "[[Leaving on a Jet Plane]]" (originally titled "Babe I Hate To Go") ([[UK Singles Chart|UK]] No. 2, February 1970). The song, which reached the top of both the U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' and ''[[Cash Box]]'' charts in December 1969, was the group's only number one hit.

Travers subsequently pursued a solo career and recorded five albums: ''[[Mary (Mary Travers album)|Mary]]'' (1971), ''Morning Glory'' (1972), ''All My Choices'' (1973), ''Circles'' (1974) and ''It's in Everyone of Us'' (1978).<ref name = "NYTimesObit"/> The group reunited for one night in June 1972 to take part in a special fundraising concert at [[Madison Square Garden]] for presidential candidate Sen. [[George McGovern]].

Peter, Paul and Mary re-formed in 1978, toured extensively, and issued many new albums until Travers' death. BBC television recorded their performance at the [[Southport]] Theatre in 1983. The group was inducted into the [[Vocal Group Hall of Fame]] in 1999.

==Personal life==
Travers was married four times.  Her first brief union, to John Filler, produced her older daughter, Erika, in 1960. In 1963, she married [[Barry Feinstein]], a prominent freelance photographer of musicians and celebrities. Her younger daughter, Alicia, was born in 1966, and the couple divorced the following year. In the 1970s, she was married to Gerald Taylor, publisher of ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]''. After the end of her marriage to Taylor, Travers had a relationship with lawyer [[Richard Ben-Veniste]] for several years while raising her daughters in New York. In 1991 she married restaurateur Ethan Robbins and lived with him in the small town of [[Redding, Connecticut]] for the remainder of her life.<ref name = "NYTimesObit"/><ref name = "Bloomberg-Harris-2009-09-16">{{cite news | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ae1I7ttyuNR4 | title = Mary Travers of Folk Music Trio Peter, Paul & Mary Dies at 72 | first = Kathryn | last =  Harris | date = September 17, 2009 | access-date =September 17, 2009 | website = Bloomberg.com | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121025184709/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ae1I7ttyuNR4 | archive-date=October 25, 2012 | url-status=live}}</ref>

==Illness and death==
In 2004, Travers was diagnosed with [[leukemia]].<ref name=USAtoday2006>{{cite news | access-date = March 4, 2012 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-08-28-travers-transplant_x.htm | date=August 28, 2006 | last =Keen | first = Judy | title=Travers sings praises of her bone marrow donor |work= [[USA Today]]}}</ref> A [[bone marrow transplant]] in 2005 induced a temporary remission, but she died on September 16, 2009, at [[Danbury Hospital]] in Connecticut, from complications related to the marrow transplant and other treatments.<ref name = "NYTimesObit">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/arts/music/17travers.html | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date = September 16, 2009 | title = Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dies at 72 | first = William | last = Grimes | access-date =September 17, 2009 }}</ref> She was interred in Umpawaug Cemetery in Redding.

==Legacy==
[[File:Mary Travers.JPG|thumb|upright|Travers in 2006]]
A memorial service for Travers was held on November 9, 2009, at [[Riverside Church]] In New York City. The four-hour service, on what would have been her 73rd birthday, was attended by a capacity crowd. Two of the many reflections shared at the service speak to the impact of Mary Travers' work and the significance of her legacy. Feminist [[Gloria Steinem]] commented that with her poise and conviction as a performer, Travers "seemed to us to be a free woman, and that helped us to be free." [[Theodore Bikel]], folk singer and co-founder of the [[Newport Folk Festival]], mused on her roles as political activist and glamorous pop-music touchstone:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/music/11travers.html?_r=0 |title=Mary Travers Is Praised for Her Voice and Words |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 10, 2009 |access-date=November 21, 2015|last1=Sisario |first1=Ben }}</ref> “There were other people besides Mary who taught us that dissent was right and dissent was just,” he said. “But only Mary taught us that dissent was also beautiful.”

==Solo discography==
*''[[Mary (Mary Travers album)|Mary]]'', [[Warner Music Group|Warner Bros.]], 1971
*''Morning Glory'', Warner Bros., 1972
*''All My Choices'', Warner Bros., 1973
*''Circles'', Warner Bros., 1974
*''It's in Everyone of Us'', [[Chrysalis Records|Chrysalis]], 1978

==See also==
* [[List of people from the Louisville metropolitan area]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Citation | url = http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/ | title = Peter Paul & Mary | format = group's official website}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/peter_paul_mary.html | title = Vocal Group Hall of Fame | contribution = Peter, Paul & Mary (inducted 1999) | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070311032921/http://www.vocalgroup.org/inductees/peter_paul_mary.html | archive-date = March 11, 2007 | df = mdy-all }}.
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{Citation | author-link = Cindy Adams | last = Adams | first = Cindy | date = June 9, 2006 | url = http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/1062600911.html?dids=1062600911:1062600911&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+19%2C+2006&author=Cindy+Adams&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=014&desc=PETER%2C+PAUL+%26+THE+NEW+MARY/ | title = Peter, Paul and the New Mary | newspaper = The [[New York Post]] | format = abstract | access-date = September 17, 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208164515/http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/1062600911.html?dids=1062600911%3A1062600911&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&date=Jun+19%2C+2006&author=Cindy+Adams&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=014&desc=PETER%2C+PAUL+&+THE+NEW+MARY%2F | archive-date = February 8, 2012 | df = mdy-all }}.
* {{Citation | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/6201272/Obituary-Mary-Travers-of-Peter-Paul-and-Mary.html | format = obituary | title = Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | date = September 17, 2009 | access-date =September 18, 2009 | location = UK}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.robertcorwin.com/MaryMemorial.html | title= Mary Travers Memorial, November 9, 2009 | access-date = September 28, 2013}}
* {{Find a Grave|42036987}}

{{Peter, Paul and Mary |state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Mary}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:American contraltos]]
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:American women singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Burials at Umpawaug Cemetery]]
[[Category:Chrysalis Records artists]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Connecticut]]
[[Category:Deaths from leukemia in the United States]]
[[Category:Folk musicians from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Little Red School House alumni]]
[[Category:Musicians from Manhattan]]
[[Category:People from Greenwich Village]]
[[Category:People from Redding, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Connecticut]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Singers from Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Singers from New York City]]
[[Category:Warner Records artists]]