Peter Paul Mary: Blowin' In The Wind: Gone At 72 Mary Travers

She was at career peak.

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Mary Travers, 72, the female third of the popular 60s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, had passed away after battling leukemia for several years.

Travers and her music mates, Peter Yarrow and Noel Stookey, best known for their hit, *Puff The Magic Dragon, was in the American folk music scene in the early 60s with their influential style and civil rights cause.

Blowin' In The Wind by Bob Dylan was recorded by hundreds of artistes because it was the anthem of the civil rights movement. But it was Peter, Paul, and Mary who made it an international hit.

Led by Mary Travers, they had already put protest songs into the music hit parade with their version of Pete Seeger's If I Had A Hammer, but they were able to balance commercial success with their espousal of worthy causes.

In later years

In August 1963, they performed Blowin' In The Wind to a large group of black freedom marchers in Washington who had just heard Martin Luther King's famous 'I have a dream' speech.

After many hits on record that included *Lemon Tree, *Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and Leaving On A Jet Plane, the group disbanded in 1970.

*Puff The Magic Dragon was banned in Singapore in 1963 for drug connotation. Was there one?

Lemon Tree was also covered by The Crescendos, a Singapore 60s group, with Susan Lim doing the lead vocals.

By Pete Seeger.

Other pop songs banned in Singapore not too long ago and during those crucial times when we were still vulnerable (we still are) included:

Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Rainbow by A-Mei (Chinese Song)
I Kissed A Girl by Kate Perry
Would You Mind by Janet Jackson

Images: Google.