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Public Domain Foundation, publishing catalog owned by Noel Paul Stookey. Stookey is best known as one-third of the folk trio, Peter, Paul And Mary. Stookey has balanced his involvement with the trio, however, as a solo singer-songwriter, record producer and political and spiritual activist. His tune, "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)," written for Peter Yarrow's marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of senator and one-time presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, has become a nuptial classic.

"Wedding Song (There Is Love)" by Paul Stookey

Stookey's earliest inspiration came from the rock and roll of the 1950s and he played electric guitar with several teenage rock bands. His witty personality made him popular as a stand-up comic and he worked as an emcee in night clubs while attending Michigan State University. Although he moved temporarily to Pennsylvania, following his graduation, he soon continued on to New York in hopes of becoming an entertainer. Supporting him and his family by working during the day at a chemical factory, Stookey continued to emcee shows in Greenwich Village clubs. On Sundays, he spent hours playing guitar and singing during informal folk music jam sessions in Washington Square Park.

A turning point came when Stookey was invited, along with Yarrow and his upstairs neighbor Mary Travers, to join a folksinging trio that was being formed by Albert Grossman, manager of Yarrow and, later, of Bob Dylan and record producer Milt Okun. Performing their debut concert at the Bitter End in New York, Peter, Paul and Mary embarked on a decade of non-stop touring and recording. One of the few commercially successful folk acts, the trio recorded eight million selling albums including their self-titled debut album, which reached the top of the charts and remained in the top twenty for two years. In addition to performing several of Stookey's compositions, Peter, Paul and Mary helped to introduce and popularize the songs of Dylan, Tom Paxton, Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver. The trio remained politically involved, as well, performing at Civil Rights rallies, with Dr. Martin Luther King, in Birmingham, Alabama and Washington, D.C., and, at numerous antiVietnam War demonstrations, fund-raisers and teach-ins.