Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe 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 backing Paul Simon on "Gone at Last".[5] She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves."[6] Snow also sang numerous commercial jingles for many U.S. products during the 1980s and 1990s, including General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, and Stouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that territory.[7] In 1995 she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory.
This article is about the singer-songwriter. For other uses, see Phoebe Snow (disambiguation).Early life, family and education[edit]
Phoebe Ann Laub[4] was born in New York City in 1950,[1] and raised in a musical household in which Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music, and folk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, an exterminator 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 the Martha Graham group.[8] She was Jewish.[9][10]
Snow was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968.[11] She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate.[12] As a student, she carried her prized Martin 000-18 acoustic guitar from club to club in Greenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name came from an early 1900s fictional character featured in Delaware, 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's passenger trains. (Lackawanna's locomotives at the time burned anthracite coal which created less soot than bituminous coal.)[4]
Personal life and death[edit]
Between 1975 and 1978 Snow was married to Phil Kearns (who later came 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 in Bergen County, New Jersey, and in her later years she embraced Buddhism.[10]
Phoebe Snow suffered a cerebral hemorrhage[10] on January 19, 2010, and slipped into a coma, enduring bouts of blood clots, pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She died on April 26, 2011, at age 60 in Edison, New Jersey.[23]