Peter Yarrow was born on 31 May 1938, in Manhattan, New York City USA, of Ukranian-Jewish descent. Peter is a songwriter and singer, best known for being part of the 1960s trio, Peter, Paul and Mary. He co-wrote the hit song “Puff, the Magic Dragon”, but all of his endeavors have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Peter Yarrow? As of late-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $5 million, mostly earned through a successful career in the music industry. Aside from his music, he is also a political activist who has lent his support to many causes. He opposed the Vietnam War, and helped create Operation Respect. All of these achievements helped ensure the position of his wealth.
Peter Yarrow Net Worth $5 million
Peter attended the High School of Music in Art, matriculating as second in his class among males. He studied painting while at school, and later went to Cornell University studying a physics major, but then decided to switch, and graduated in 1969 with a degree in psychology. During his last year at Cornell, Peter started singing while part of an American Folk Literature course, discovering that he loved performing in front of an audience, and then later found other opportunities during weekends.
After graduating, Peter played for various folk clubs in New York City, and would then meet Albert Grossman while at the Newport Folk Festival. Grossman came to him with an idea to form a new group which led him to Mary Travers, who was already known for her folk singing prowess. However, she didn’t want to sing professionally so Yarrow had to convince her that their voices blended together. Mary then introduced him to Noel Paul Stookey, who would complete their trio. They rehearsed for around six months before debuting in 1961 at The Bitter End nightclub. They quickly developed a following and were given a contract by Warner Brothers. In 1962, they released their single “Lemon Tree” which was followed by their version of “If I Had a Hammer”. The song would win two Grammy Awards in the same year, so along with his colleagues, Yarrow’s net worth was established.
They then released their first, self-titles album, which would stay charted in the Top Ten for ten months, selling more than two million copies and actually being in the Top Twenty for two years. The group would then tour and record numerous albums. In 1963, they released the single “Blowin’ in the Wind” which sold 300,000 copies during the first week of its release, and would eventually sell over a million copies. In the same year, the trio appeared alongside the Reverend Martin Luther King.
A lot of the trio’s songs were written by Peter, including “Day is Done” and “Puff, the Magic Dragon”. In 1996, they earned an Emmy award nomination for their performances at the special “LifeLines Live”. Yarrow also helped co-write the Mary McGregor hit “Torn Between Two Lovers”. He helped found the New Folks Concert series, and also produced three CBS television specials based on “Puff, the Magic Dragon”. Today, Peter performs with his daughter and cellist Rufus Cappadocia. He was also part of the 2015 film “While We’re Young”. His net worth is still rising.
For his personal life, it is known that Yarrow married prominent politician Eugene McCarthy’s niece, Mary Beth McCarthy in 1969. They had two children but were divorced in 1981. He practices Judaism and according to him, it impacts his political views. He also mentions that he is a recovering alcoholic. He currently resides in Telluride, Colorado. His daughter Bethany Yarrow is a musician while his son Christopher is a visual artist.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation
Movies
Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune, Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies, Puff the Magic Dragon, You Are What You Eat, Peter, Paul & Mary: Carry It On, A Musical Legacy
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Quote
1
[on 'The March on Washington', August 29, 1963] We sang 'If I Had a Hammer'. They knew it and they sang. And the moment was created not by the three of us in a performance but by a quarter of a million people, gathering together and singing with us and saying, This moment belongs to us together. That's what singing together can do...'Joyful' doesn't really describe it for me. It was like the physicalization of love. It was ecstatic perhaps, but it was not giddy and silly or 'let's have a good time'. It was a far deeper kind of joy. It went beyond joy. It was hard to describe, but it was the antithesis of fear, and it propelled us all into another channel in our lives.
2
[on the impact of 'The March'] It changed the course of our lives. It gave us not only an internal sense of what we believed in being validated, but it gave us the sense of the community of commitment that was to change America. Not only in terms of African Americans, but to be able to say that ordinary human beings can gather together in large numbers, and if they gather together with heart and strength, they can change the course of history.
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Fact
1
Children with Mary Beth; Daughter, Bethany (b. 1971?), a documentary film maker and contemporary folk performer and son, Christopher (b. 1973?), shop owner The Monkey and the Rat at 131 N.W. Second Ave. Portland, OR.
2
His wife is the niece of Democratic senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy.
3
He co-wrote the Mary MacGregor hit "Torn Between Two Lovers".
4
His composition "Light One Candle" has been adopted as a hymn by the Unitarian-Universalist Association, and appears in their supplemental hymnal "Singing the Journey" (Hymn # 1021).
5
In 1982, he received the Allard K. Lowenstein Award (Park River Independent Democrats) for his "remarkable efforts in advancing the causes of human rights, peace and freedom."
6
Co-founder of The Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, Texas, in 1972.
7
In 1965, Newsweek published an article claiming that "Puff, the Magic Dragon" was actually a song about drugs, containing secret code words: "Puff" = smoke; "lived by the sea" = C (cocaine); "mist" = smoke; "Hohna Lee" = another name for hashish; "Little Jackie Paper" = used to wrap joints. Yarrow insists to this day that the song was simply about the loss of childhood innocence, and has no drug connections whatsoever.
TV Short performer: "Puff the Magic Dragon" / writer: "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Never Was A Feather", "Follow Your Own Star"
American Pop
1981
writer: "This Train"
Airplane!
1980
"River of Jordan"
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies
1979
TV Movie performer: "Puff the Magic Dragon" / writer: "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Part of All the Wonderment", "The Walls Come A-Tumbling Town"
Puff the Magic Dragon
1978
TV Short performer: "Puff the Magic Dragon" / writer: "Puff the Magic Dragon", "The Boat Song", "Weave Me the Sunshine"
Top of the Pops
1977
TV Series writer - 1 episode
You Are What You Eat
1968
Documentary performer: "Moments of Soft Persuasion", "Silly Girl", "The Wabe", "Don't Remind Me Now of Time" / writer: "Teenage Fair Helmet Commercial", "Moments of Soft Persuasion", "Silly Girl", "You Are What You Eat", "The Wabe", "Don't Remind Me Now of Time"
The Sixties
2014
TV Mini-Series documentary writer - 1 episode
Home & Family
2013
TV Series performer - 1 episode
No me la puc treure del cap
2010
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Mad Men
2008
TV Series writer - 1 episode
American Masters
2005
TV Series documentary performer - 1 episode
Meet the Fockers
2004
writer: "Puff the Magic Dragon"
Meet the Parents
2000
writer: "Puff the Magic Dragon"
Mystery Science Theater 3000
1992-1994
TV Series writer - 5 episodes
Saved by the Bell
1991
TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Golden Girls
1989
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Concert for Newtown
2013
TV Movie concert producer / producer
Peter, Bethany & Rufus: Spirit of Woodstock
2008
TV Movie producer
Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody
1982
TV Short producer
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies
1979
TV Movie producer
Puff the Magic Dragon
1978
TV Short producer
You Are What You Eat
1968
Documentary producer
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody
1982
TV Short
The Willmar 8
1981
Documentary
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies
1979
TV Movie
Puff the Magic Dragon
1978
TV Short
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
While We're Young
2014
Ira Mandelstam
Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of the Living Lies
1979
TV Movie
Father (voice)
Puff the Magic Dragon
1978
TV Short
Father (voice)
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Torn Between Two Lovers
1979
TV Movie composer: song "Torn Between Two Lovers"
You Are What You Eat
1968
Documentary musical director
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Colored Frames
2007
Documentary project advisor
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Wear
personal thanks post-production
The Misunderstood Epidemic: Depression
2010
Documentary special thanks
No Child Left Behind
2005
Documentary special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Resurrection of Victor Jara
2015
Documentary
Himself
50 Years with Peter Paul and Mary
2014
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Tavis Smiley
2010-2014
TV Series
Himself - Guest / Himself
L'Chayim
2014
TV Series documentary
Himself
Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector
2013
Documentary
Himself
The March
2013
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Concert for Newtown
2013
TV Movie
Himself
Moyers & Company
2013
TV Series
Himself
Home & Family
2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation
2012
Documentary
Himself
American Masters
2005-2012
TV Series documentary
Himself
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
2010
Documentary
Friend / Musician
The Misunderstood Epidemic: Depression
2010
Documentary
Himself
CBS Cares
2010
TV Series
Himself
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
2008
Documentary
Himself
Peter, Bethany & Rufus: Spirit of Woodstock
2008
TV Movie
Himself
The Power of Their Song: The Untold Story of Latin America's New Song Movement
2008
Documentary
Himself
A Tribute to the Teachers of America
2007
TV Movie
Himself
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival
2007
TV Movie documentary
Himself, Peter, Paul and Mary
The Kingston Trio: 50 Years of Havin' Fun
2006
Video documentary
Peter Yarrow: With Your Face to the Wind
2006
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2004
Documentary
Himself (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Larry King Live
2004
TV Series
Himself
Peter, Paul, and Mary: Carry It on - A Musical Legacy
2004
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Get Up, Stand Up
2003
TV Series documentary
Himself - Interviewee
American Roots Music
2001
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Hunger Heroes
2000
TV Movie documentary
Himself
New Passages
1996
TV Movie
Himself
Great Performances
1987-1996
TV Series
Himself
Rock & Roll
1995
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Peter, Paul and Mommy, Too
1993
TV Movie
Himself
Peter, Paul and Mary: Reunion
1991
Video documentary
Himself
11-22-63: The Day the Nation Cried
1989
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Peter, Paul & Mary: Holiday Concert
1988
TV Movie
Himself
In Our Hands
1984
Documentary
Himself
In Concert
1974
TV Series
Himself
The Midnight Special
1974
TV Series
Himself
Top à...
1972
TV Series
Himself
New American Bandstand 1965
1972
TV Series
Himself
The David Frost Show
1972
TV Series
Himself
The Mike Walsh Show
1970
TV Series
Himself
You Are What You Eat
1968
Documentary
Himself
Festival
1967
Documentary
Himself (as Peter)
The Roger Miller Show
1966
TV Series
Himself
Ready, Steady, Go!
1964
TV Series
Himself
The Jack Benny Program
1964
TV Series
Himself
Bob Hope Comedy Special
1963
TV Special
Himself
What's My Line?
1963
TV Series
Himself - Mystery Guest
The Mike Douglas Show
1962
TV Series
Himself - Vocalist
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Ghost World
2001
Himself (uncredited)
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1970
Grammy
Grammy Awards
Best Recording for Children
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1979
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Individual Achievement - Animation Program