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The folk era lost another one of its icons yesterday as Mary Traverse die of leukemia. Traverse, the female energy of the famous trio Peter, Paul and Mary was hired by famous agent Albert Grossman, who also shepherded Bob Dylan’s career. In effect, Grossman invented a successful group when he “put a doll between two beat-niks.” In fact Grossman created a folk explosion that lasted well into the psychedelic era, or when most of the folk artists had hung up their banjos.
Their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, including 500 Miles, Lemon Tree, If I Had a Hammer and Where have All the Flowers Gone? was on Billboard’s Top 10 list for 10 months and in the Top 100 for over three years. It solidified the careers of Paul Stookey, Peter Yarrow and Mary Traverse into folk immortality.
Not only were they a popular group but their songs were taken up by causes. If I Had a Hammer was sung on Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963 as was their rendition of Bob Dylans Blowin’ in the Wind.
Leaving on a Jet Plane, written by John Denver, gave them their only #1 hit in 1969. Puff the Magic Dragon went #2 in 1963.
When they group broke up in 1970 Mary traverse and the guys went on solo careers but got back together less than 10 years later. Traverse was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004 but toured until 2007.
Mary Traverse also began the “white girl look” for most of the 1960′s: straight hair with bangs. Melanie Safka, Grace Slick, Judy Collins, Jonie Mitchell and many others adopted this appearance. The fact that she was blonde made her all that much more attractive, especially between two guys with goatees. And Peter, Paul and Mary also were remembered above all their contemporaries in the folk era.
(Photo from peter, Paul and Mary website)
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In quite a few articles and books regarding the Beatles, Ringo Starr has been considered the least musically talented of The Beatles’ four members. One of the main put-downs is that McCartney played the drums on a couple of songs on one their last albums. It was later reported that Paul had a beat in his head that he couldn’t convey to Ringo and played the track himself. He later apologized to the drummer and nothing more was made of in the band. However, the action was blown up through rumors.
The new Beatles-themed version of Rock Band has created a stir across the board from pure elation to, in some cases, disgust. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took to the stage at the Microsoft press conference in Los Angeles to introduce the game, made by “Rock Band” creators at MTV-owned Harmonix Music, which was released September 9 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii.
Most people in the world who are tied into western music have heard Denny Doherty sing. He was, after all, the lead male voice of The Mamas and the Papas, one the key groups that defined the 1960′s. Composed also of John Phillips, “Mama” Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips, they brought a vocal explosion to radio that rivaled the best of the Motown groups. Their popularity brought them many times to that holiest of shrines, The Ed Sullivan Show, where it said Sullivan liked them as much as Elvis Presley.