Mary MacGregor
{{Short description|American singer (born 1948)}}
{{for|the Canadian author|Mary Esther MacGregor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Mary MacGregor
|image = File:Torn Between Two Lovers - Cash Box ad 1976.jpg
|caption = Cashbox advertisement, December 25, 1976
|background = solo_singer
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|5|6}}
|birth_place = Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
|genre = {{hlist|Pop|country|folk|soft rock{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10eRzwLWOEwC&q=mary+macgregor+soft+rock&pg=PT43|title=Colorado Rocks!: A Half-Century of Music in Colorado – G. Brown|via=Google Books|isbn=9780871089304|access-date=February 12, 2014|last1=Brown|first1=G.|year=2004 |publisher=Pruett }}}}
|years_active = 1975–2000
|label = {{hlist|Ariola America|RSO Records}}
}}
Mary MacGregor (born May 6, 1948){{cite web|last1=Demalon|first1=Tom|title=Artist Biography|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mary-macgregor-mn0000320083/biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=12 March 2022}} is an American singer. She is best known for singing the 1976 song "Torn Between Two Lovers", which topped the Billboard charts for two weeks.
Career
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2019}}
MacGregor was born May 6, 1948, in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. She began studying piano at age six, and was singing with bands by the time she was a teenager. After graduating from Saint Joseph's Academy in 1966, she briefly attended the University of Minnesota, and later began to tour the country with various acts and, in the process, catching the attention of Peter Yarrow from Peter, Paul & Mary. She soon joined Yarrow, singing backup on a solo tour, and made an appearance on his Love Songs album.{{cite journal|title=Peter, Paul and Mary - A Song To Sing All Over This Land|journal=Goldmine|date=1996-04-12|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|url=http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/history/f-ruhlmann4.htm|access-date=January 6, 2017|quote=Next, he began looking for a deal for one of his backup singers, Mary MacGregor, who had sung on Love Songs.}}
Signed to Ariola Records America, MacGregor released her debut single, "Torn Between Two Lovers", in late 1976; it became a smash hit by February 1977. The new year saw the single top both the pop{{cite web|url=http://www.superseventies.com/1977.html|title=Seventies Almanac – 1977|publisher=Superseventies.com|access-date=December 16, 2012}} and adult contemporary charts and was certified as a gold record.{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=torn+between+two+lovers#search_section|title=Gold & Platinum - RIAA|work=Recording Industry Association of America|publisher=RIAA|access-date=February 2, 2017}} In addition, it reached #3 on Billboard's Country chart and also reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite book|first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=339}} Two further singles from the album of the same name, also written and produced by Yarrow, charted but were overwhelmed by the success of the title track.
MacGregor admitted in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson that she hated her own chart-topper, chiefly because she had little sympathy for the narrator of "Torn Between Two Lovers", a woman who confesses to her husband that she is having an affair, but pleads with her husband to stay with her and accept the situation.{{cite web|url=https://www.countrythangdaily.com/torn-two-lovers-macgregor/|website=CountryThangDaily.com|author=Lambert, Arden|title=Of Love Dilemma, Are You "Torn Between Two Lovers"?|date=February 26, 2018|access-date=27 February 2018}} MacGregor also said that the song indirectly led to the breakup of her own marriage, because her career kept her away from home so often that her relationship with her husband strained, and they decided to separate. She did acknowledge that the song was successful because it appealed to listeners who had found themselves in the situation described in the lyrics.{{cite book |last1=Bronson|first1=Fred|author-link=Fred Bronson|title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits|publisher=Billboard Books|year=2003|page=453|isbn=9780823076772}}
She released several more albums, and had three more minor chart singles (including the song "Good Friend" from the 1979 Bill Murray film Meatballs).{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Meatballs-David-Naughton/dp/B000O4L77W|title=Meatballs: Music|website=Amazon |date=April 7, 2009|access-date=December 16, 2012}} "Good Friend" was later added to her third and eponymous final album.
In 1980, MacGregor won best song and best performance at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan with "What's the Use" which she had co-written with David Bluefield.
For the 1981 Japanese anime film Adieu Galaxy Express 999, MacGregor wrote and performed two songs. They were "Sayonara" and "Love Light".
In 1983, Mike Love (of The Beach Boys) and MacGregor performed "Do You Hear What I Hear" from Scrooge's Rock N Roll Christmas.
In the mid-1980s, MacGregor performed in nightclubs around the Central Coast of California with Mary and the Blue Jays, a trio composed of MacGregor, James Royce on bass, and Jim Kennedy on guitar.
In 1999, she teamed up with fellow musician friends, Joe Ghiglia and John Holt, to form The Mary MacGregor Band. The result was an album called Perfect Yellow House.
She is also mentioned in the liner notes of 1976's The Steamboat Album as doing vocals for one of the tracks, "Rabbit Ears". The album was recorded by Yampa River Records in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
She now lives in California, has remarried, has two children and is retired.
Discography
=Albums=
| class="wikitable" |
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Album ! colspan="5"| Chart positions ! rowspan="2"| Label |
|---|
| style="width:45px;"| US {{cite web|title=Mary MacGregor - Awards|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mary-macgregor-mn0000320083/awards|website=AllMusic|access-date=12 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802070531/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mary-macgregor-mn0000320083/awards|archive-date=August 2, 2012}} ! style="width:45px;"| US Country ! style="width:45px;"| AUS ! style="width:45px;"| CAN ! style="width:45px;"| UK |
| 1976
| style="text-align:center;"| 17 | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| 35 | style="text-align:center;"| 28 | style="text-align:center;"| 59 | rowspan="3"| Ariola |
| 1978
| style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1979
| Mary MacGregor's Greatest Hits | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |
| 1980
| style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | RSO |
| colspan="10" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
=Singles=
| class="wikitable" |
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Title ! colspan="8"| Chart positions ! rowspan="2"| Album |
|---|
| style="width:45px;"| US ! style="width:45px;"| US AC ! style="width:45px;"| US Country ! style="width:45px;"| AUS ! style="width:45px;"| CAN ! style="width:45px;"| CAN AC ! style="width:45px;"| CAN Country ! style="width:45px;"| UK |
| 1976
| style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|3 | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|3 | style="text-align:center;"|4 | rowspan="3"|Torn Between Two Lovers |
| rowspan="2"|1977
| "This Girl (Has Turned into a Woman)" | style="text-align:center;"|46 | style="text-align:center;"|27 | style="text-align:center;"|36 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|60 | style="text-align:center;"|23 | style="text-align:center;"|38 | style="text-align:center;"|— |
| "For a While"
| style="text-align:center;"|90 | style="text-align:center;"|38 | style="text-align:center;"|86 | style="text-align:center;"|100 | style="text-align:center;"|77 | style="text-align:center;"|14 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |
| rowspan="3"|1978
| style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|29 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|29 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | rowspan="2"|In Your Eyes |
| "Memories"
| style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |
| "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)"
| style="text-align:center;"|81 | style="text-align:center;"|23 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | Mary MacGregor's Greatest Hits |
| 1979
| "Good Friend" | style="text-align:center;"|39 | style="text-align:center;"|11 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|86 | style="text-align:center;"|6 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | rowspan="3"|Mary MacGregor |
| rowspan="2"|1980
| "Dancing Like Lovers" | style="text-align:center;"|72 | style="text-align:center;"|31 | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |
| "Somebody Please"
| style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— |
| 1981
| "Sayonara" | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | style="text-align:center;"|— | Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (OST) |
| colspan="11" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Mary MacGregor|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Mary}}
Category:Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Category:American women country singers
Category:American country rock singers
Category:American country singer-songwriters
Category:Country musicians from Minnesota
Category:Winners of Yamaha Music Festival
Category:Ariola Records artists
Category:Singer-songwriters from Minnesota