After a four year battle with bladder cancer, singer-songwriter Peter Yarrow passed away yesterday (Tuesday, January 7) – he was responsible the hit Puff The Magic Dragon
13:17, 08 Jan 2025Updated 13:20, 08 Jan 2025
Peter Yarrow died yesterday, his publicist has confirmed (Image: Getty Images)
Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter responsible for the hit Puff The Magic Dragon, died yesterday aged 86.
The controversial musician passed away after a four year battle with bladder cancer, his publicist confirmed. Yarrow was one third of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, known for their hit track about a dragon named Puff. Released in 1960, Yarrow consistently denied the song was about taking illicit narcotics – contrary to what many of his fans believed.
Despite “puff” being both a verb and a noun attributed by many to the act of drug taking, Yarrow always staunchly denied his song about a “magic dragon” having anything to do with substances.
Yarrow claimed his hit song wasn’t about drugs (Image: Youtube)
Instead, Yarrow insisted the 1960 tune was about the hardships of growing up. The musician previously said it “never had any meaning other than the obvious one” and is about the “loss of innocence in children.”
Yarrow was embroiled in a controversy in which he was sentenced to three months in prison over a 1969 incident where he answered the door naked to two female fans – aged 14 and 17 – who were seeking an autograph.
The singer has since apologised for the incident, saying: “It was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers. I was one of them. I got nailed. I was wrong. I’m sorry for it.”
The controversial singer fronted the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary'(Image: Michael Ochs Archives)READ MORE: Donald Trump says ‘Canada should be US state’ after Justin Trudeau steps down
Former president Jimmy Carter pardoned Yarrow in 1981 in his end-of-presidency clemency recipient list.
Yarrow’s group’s heyday was in the early and mid 1960s, with their self-titled debut album topping the US charts. They were even credited with popularising the folk music revival in the swinging sixties.
The group got an impressive six singles into the Top 10 list in the US, fan-favourite hits such as their cover of John Denver’s Leavin’ On A Jet Plane.
Yarrow, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, was born in Manhattan, New York City, and also got involved in political activism.
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