Peter Yarrow, the Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary, Dies at 86

Mr. Grossman wanted to create a new group that would expand and update the formula of the Weavers, a folk harmony group consisting of a woman and three men (one of them Pete Seeger), which enjoyed significant success in the 1950s. He paired Mr. Yarrow with Ms. Travers, who had appeared in Village clubs and sung several times with Mr. Seeger. The duo became a trio when, at Ms. Travers’s suggestion, they added Noel Paul Stookey, with whom she had performed at a local club. Using Mr. Stookey’s middle name, they settled on their catchy biblical moniker.

The trio presented a compelling visual image: The two men, wearing dark ties, beatnik goatees and serious expressions, flanked Ms. Travers, whose blond hair framed noble cheekbones. Mr. Grossman booked them for a run at the Bitter End on Bleecker Street, and a buzz was created. In 1961, the group signed with Warner Bros. Records, which issued their debut album, called simply “Peter, Paul and Mary,” the following May.

Mr. Yarrow sang lead on the group’s first single, “Lemon Tree,” based on a Brazilian folk tune, which reached the Billboard Top 40. The full album rose to No. 1 after their second single, “If I Had a Hammer,” written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of the Weavers, became a Top 10 hit and won two Grammy Awards. The album stayed in the Top 20 for two years and sold more than two million copies.

The group’s follow-up, “Movin’,” released in early 1963, featured “Puff the Magic Dragon,” whose lyrics were based on a poem that a friend of Mr. Yarrow’s, Lenny Lipton, had written when he was 19, inspired by an earlier poem by Ogden Nash titled “The Tale of Custard the Dragon.” Speculation later arose that the song referred to smoking marijuana, an interpretation Mr. Yarrow strongly denied.