Mary MacGregor (born May 6, 1948) is an American singer. She is best known for singing the 1976 song "

Torn Between Two Lovers Torn Between Two Lovers may refer to: * "Torn Between Two Lovers" (song), a 1976 single by Mary MacGregor * ''Torn Between Two Lovers'' (album), a 1976 album by Mary MacGregor * ''Torn Between Two Lovers'' (film), a 1979 American TV film * "Tor ...

", which topped the ''Billboard'' charts for two weeks.

Career

MacGregor was born May 6, 1948, in

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 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 The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, and later began to tour the country with various acts and, in the process, catching the attention of

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk music, folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton ...

from

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow (guitar, tenor vocals), Paul Stookey (guitar, baritone vocals), and Mary Travers (contr ...

. She soon joined Yarrow, singing

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "wikt:back ...

on a solo tour, and made an appearance on his ''Love Songs'' album. Signed to Ariola Records America, MacGregor released her debut single, "

", in late 1976; it became a smash hit by February 1977. The new year saw the single top both the

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

charts and was certified as a

gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. In addition, it reached #3 on ''Billboards Country chart and also reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. 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 Fredric M. "Fred" Bronson (born January 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author and writer. He is the author of books related to number one songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and other books related to various music charts as well. He ...

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. 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. She released several more albums, and had three more minor chart singles (including the song "Good Friend" from the 1979

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...

film ''

Meatballs A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. ...

''). "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 The , also known as Yamaha Music Festival and unofficially as the "Oriental Eurovision", was an international song contest held from 1970 until 1989. It was organised by the Yamaha Music Foundation in Tokyo, Japan. The first edition of the World P ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

with "What's the Use" which she had co-written with David Bluefield. For the 1981 Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

film ''

Adieu Galaxy Express 999 is a Japanese manga series. It is written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, later adapted into a number of anime films and television series. It is set in a spacefaring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer ...

'', MacGregor wrote and performed two songs. They were "Sayonara" and "Love Light". In 1983,

Mike Love Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who is one of the vocalists of the Beach Boys, of which he was an original member alongside his cousins Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson and their frien ...

(of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

) and MacGregor performed "

Do You Hear What I Hear "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record ...

" 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 Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 13,224 at the 2020 census. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Ste ...

. She now lives in California, has remarried, has two children and is retired.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Mary 1948 births Living people Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota American women country singers American country rock singers American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Minnesota Winners of Yamaha Music Festival Ariola Records artists RSO Records artists Singer-songwriters from Minnesota 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American women singers