Phoebe Snow
Background information
Birth name	Phoebe Ann Laub
Born	(1950-07-17)July 17, 1950[1][2] New York City, U.S.[1]
Died	April 26, 2011(2011-04-26) (aged 60)[1] Edison, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Blues,[3]folk,gospel,jazz,R&B,roots rock,soul
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1972–2010
Labels	Shelter,Columbia,Mirage,Elektra,Eagle, House of Blues

Phoebe Snow (bornPhoebe Ann Laub;^[4] July 17, 1950^[1][2] – April 26, 2011)^[1] was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals onPaul Simon’s "Gone at Last".^[5] She was described byThe New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over fouroctaves".^[6] Snow also sang numerous commercialjingles for many U.S. products during the 1980s and 1990s, includingGeneral Foods International Coffees,Salon Selectives, andStouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that country.^[7] In 1995 she recorded a gospel album withSisters of Glory.

Phoebe Ann Laub^[4] was born in New York City in 1950,^[1] and raised in a musical household in whichDelta blues,Broadway show tunes,Dixieland jazz,classical music, andfolk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, anexterminator by trade, had an encyclopedic knowledge of American film and theater and was also an avid collector and restorer of antiques. Her mother, Lili Laub, was a dance teacher who had performed with theMartha Graham group.^[8] She was Jewish.^[9][10]

Snow was raised inTeaneck, New Jersey, and graduated fromTeaneck High School in 1968.^[11] She subsequently attendedShimer College inMount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate.^[12] As a student, she carried her prizedMartin 000-18 acoustic guitar from club to club inGreenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name came from an early 1900s fictionalcharacter featured inDelaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad ads. In painted and later photographic print images, the young woman 'Phoebe Snow' was dressed all in white to emphasize the cleanliness of the line'spassenger trains. (Lackawanna's locomotives at the time burnedanthracite coal which created less soot thanbituminous coal.)^[4]

It was atThe Bitter End club in 1972 thatDenny Cordell, co-owner (withLeon Russell) ofShelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording, recording atThe Church Studio.^{[citation needed]} She released aneponymous album,Phoebe Snow, including "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Poetry Man", in 1974, featuring guest performances byThe Persuasions,Zoot Sims,Teddy Wilson,David Bromberg, andDave Mason.

The album spawned a top five 1975 single on theBillboard Hot 100 with "Poetry Man" and was itself a top-five album inBillboard, for which she received a nomination for theGrammy Award for Best New Artist.^[13] The cover ofRolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours byJackson Browne and Paul Simon. (She provided credited guest vocals backing Simon on the gospel-tinged hit single "Gone at Last" later in 1975—#23 on the Hot 100.) The same year, 1975, also brought the first of several appearances as a musical guest onSaturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Simon andLinda Ronstadt. During the 1975 appearance, she was seven months pregnant with her daughter, Valerie. Her backup vocal is heard on Simon's hit song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," along withValerie Simpson andPatti Austin, from 1975. Both "Gone at Last" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" appear on Simon's Grammy-winning 1975 albumStill Crazy After All These Years.

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records. Snow ended up signed toColumbia Records. Her second album,Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced byPhil Ramone. It was jazzier and more introspective, and was aRIAA Certified Gold Album for Snow, with the Gold Album awarded on July 9, 1976.^[14] She moved to a more rock-oriented sound forIt Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 withDavid Rubinson producing. 1977 sawNever Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978'sAgainst the Grain was helmed byBarry Beckett. After that, Snow parted ways with Columbia; she would later say that the stress of her parental obligations compromised her ability to make music effectively. In 1979, she toured extensively throughout the US and Canada with noted guitaristArlen Roth as her lead guitarist and musical director. Her January 1979 cover of thePaul McCartney song "Every Night" reached No. 37 in theUK.^[15] In 1981, Snow, then signed withMirage Records, released the albumRock Away, but the album disappointed music critic Geoffrey Himes.^[16]

The 1983Rolling Stone Record Guide summed up Snow's career to that point by saying: "One of the most gifted voices of her generation, Phoebe Snow can do just about anything stylistically as well as technically. … The question that's still unanswered is how best to channel such talent."

Snow spent long periods away from recording, often singing commercialjingles forAT&T,General Foods International Coffees,Salon Selectives,Stouffer's,Hampton Bay Ceiling Fans, and others to support herself and her daughter.^[17] Snow recorded the theme song for the first season of the TV series9 to 5. (Dolly Parton's vocals were used for the rest of the show's run.) Snow also sang the theme song forNBC'sA Different World during the show's first season (1987–88).

In 1988, a duet withDave Mason, called "Dreams I Dream," reached No. 11 on the US adult contemporary charts. Snow returned to recording withSomething Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. Also, Snow composed WDIV-TV (Detroit)'s "Go 4 It!" campaign in 1980. She sang "Ancient Places, Sacred Lands", composed by Steve Horelick, onReading Rainbow's tenth episode,The Gift of the Sacred Dog. The episode was based on the book of the same name byPaul Goble and was narrated by actorMichael Ansara. It was shot inCrow Agency, Montana, in 1983.

Snow performed in 1989 on stage atAvery Fisher Hall in New York City, as part ofOur Common Future: a five-hour live television broadcast originating from several countries.^[18] Also that year, Snow sang thejingle for "Colon Blow", a breakfast cereal commercial parody featured onSaturday Night Live.^[19]

In 1990, she contributed a cover version of theDelaney & Bonnie song "Get Ourselves Together" to the Elektra compilationRubáiyát, which includedEarth Wind & Fire guitaristDick Smith. In 1992, she toured withDonald Fagen'sNew York Rock and Soul Revue and was featured on the group's album recorded live at theBeacon Theatre in New York City. Throughout the 1990s, she made numerous appearances on theHoward Stern radio show. She sang live for specials and birthday shows. In 1997, she sang theRoseanne theme songa cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.^[20]

In 1995, Snow participated inThe Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True at the Lincoln Center in New York City, singing a distinctive medley of "If I Only Had a Brain; a Heart; the Nerve". In addition, the concert featured performances byJewel,Joel Grey,Roger Daltrey, andJackson Browne, among others. An album of the concert was released on compact disc onRhino Records as catalog number R2 72405.

Snow joined with the pop groupZap Mama, who recorded its own version of Snow's "Poetry Man" in an impromptu duet on the PBS seriesSessions at West 54th. Hawaiian girl groupNā Leo Pilimehana also had a hit on theAdult Contemporary chart in 1999 with its cover version of "Poetry Man".

In May 1998, Snow received the Cultural Achievement Award fromNew York City MayorRudolph Giuliani.

Snow performed for US PresidentBill Clinton,First LadyHillary Clinton, andhis cabinet atCamp David in 1999.

In 2003, Snow released her albumNatural Wonder onEagle Records, containing 10 original tracks, her first original material in 14 years. Snow performed atHoward Stern's wedding in 2008, and made a special appearance in the filmNoah's Arc: Jumping the Broom as herself. Some of her music was also featured on thesoundtrack of the film. HerLive album (2008) featured many of her hits as well as acover of "Piece of My Heart".^{[citation needed]}

Between 1975 and 1978 Snow was married to Phil Kearns (who latercame out as gay).^[21] She had a daughter, Valerie Rose, who was born with severe brain damage.^[9][10] Snow resolved not to institutionalize Valerie, and cared for her at home until Valerie died on March 19, 2007, at the age of 31. Snow's efforts to care for Valerie nearly ended her career.^[22] She continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.^[22]

Snow resided inBergen County, New Jersey, and in her later years she embracedBuddhism.^[10]

Phoebe Snow suffered acerebral hemorrhage^[10] on January 19, 2010, and slipped into a coma, enduring bouts ofblood clots,pneumonia andcongestive heart failure. She died on April 26, 2011, at age 60 inEdison, New Jersey.^[23]

• 1981:The Best of Phoebe Snow
• 1995:P.S.
• 2001:The Very Best of Phoebe Snow
• 2012:Playlist: The Very Best of Phoebe Snow

• 1982: "9 to 5" (9 to 5 TV programs theme song (1982–1983, 1986–1988) First Season Opening Theme) –Dolly Parton cover
• 1989: "Darling Be Home Soon" ([Rude Awakening Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album) —The Lovin' Spoonful cover
• 1990: "Get Ourselves Together" (Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary album) —Delaney, Bonnie & Friends cover
• 1995: "Merry Christmas Baby" (Winter Fire & Snow album) —Johnny Moore's Three Blazers cover
• 1997: "Time and Love" (Time and Love – The Music of Laura Nyro album) —Laura Nyro cover
• 2002: "Single Again" (Sincerely -Mariya Takeuchi Songbook- album) —Mariya Takeuchi cover
• 2002: "Always Here for You" (Once in a Lifetime -Mayo Okamoto Songbook- album) —Mayo Okamoto cover, Original song title "Dear..."
• 2003: "Beams of Heaven" (Shout, Sister, Shout! – a Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe album) —Sister Rosetta Tharpe cover
• 2012: "In My Girlish Days" (....First Came Memphis Minnie album) —Memphis Minnie cover

• Chicago blues

• Unofficial fan site
• Soul Covers by Michael Awkward featuring research on Phoebe Snow
• Phoebe's tribute to Valerie
• Phoebe Snow atIMDb
• Phoebe Snow atAllMusic

• 1950 births
• 2011 deaths
• 20th-century American singer-songwriters
• American contraltos
• American women singer-songwriters
• American blues singer-songwriters
• American blues singers
• American folk singers
• American folk guitarists
• American blues guitarists
• American acoustic guitarists
• Jewish American musicians
• Shimer College alumni
• Singers from New York City
• Singer-songwriters from New Jersey
• Singers with a four-octave vocal range
• Teaneck High School alumni
• American Buddhists
• Jewish folk singers
• 20th-century American guitarists
• Guitarists from New Jersey
• Guitarists from New York City
• 20th-century American women singers
• 20th-century American women guitarists
• 21st-century American Jews
• Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
• 21st-century American women
• The New York Rock and Soul Revue members
• Mirage Records artists
• Shelter Records artists

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