Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; b. 7/17/50 – d. 4/26/11) was born in New York City 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. She was Jewish.
Phoebe was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1975 songs “Poetry Man” and “Harpo’s Blues” and her credited guest vocals backing Paul Simon on “Gone at Last.” She was described by The New York Times as a “contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves.” 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.
Discography:
Studio albums = 12
Compilation albums = 4
Songs with other artists = 40
Compilations with other artists = 9
Some things to share:
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.)
Between 1975 and 1978 Snow was married to Phil Kearns (who later came out as gay). She had a daughter, Valerie Rose, who was born with severe brain damage. 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. She continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.
In Phoebe’s later years she embraced Buddhism.
She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage 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.
Official website: here
Source: wikipedia
Tao Talk 
Touched by so much sadness, and yet what joy in her music. I was just playing her first album the other day. (K)
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Well-stated, Kerfe. Nice bit of synchronicity on the listening!
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I hope she had carers who sang to her when she was in the coma. RIP
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❤
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I always admired her for taking care of her daughter and halting her career…. it would have been easy to have someone else look after her. She did have a wonderful voice…I just saw her on the 2nd ever SNL episode as a guest of Paul Simon.
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Yes on all you say here. In wiki I saw that SNL performance mentioned but didn’t include it. Time for me to go check it out…
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I can’t find it! I saw one with them on Letterman but not SNL…
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The only one in youtube I’ve found was with Linda Ronstadt…I can’t find the one with Simon…
I have all of the SNL’s from 1975 to 1985 at home.
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Ooh lucky you. Lots of good times in those.
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I mainly know her from her guest appearance on Paul Simon’s ‘Gone at Last’ – I haven’t heard her mentioned for ages. That live version of ‘Poetry Man’ is really nice – I like that fretless bass.
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Graham I have to say I think of her pretty much as a one-hit wonder also. If you’re going to have one hit, this is a good one to have. I learned about the other stuff when putting this together.
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She had the most unique voice. I cannot hear her, especially Poetry Man, without thinking of my father who discovered her and bought two of her albums that I loved to play. I love the description of her voice!
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Sounds like happy bonded memories associated with Miss Snow. I like her voice and her playful spirit. Gone way too soon.
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Yes, very much so. Way too soon.
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As a copy boy in the Los Angeles CBS station around 1976, I got a call from a contact upstairs at Columbia Records asking if Phoebe Snow can see the newsroom. I suggested the 11 o’clock broadcast the same evening. She showed up (with Phil Kearns) wearing cut jeans shorts and sandals and a white long sleeved blouse. Very little was said, however, the main anchor Joseph Benti was thrilled to meet her.
The SNL appearance with Paul Simon shows her seven months along. Learning of her devotion to her daughter, it was an honor.
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Thank you very much for your personal story involving Phoebe. It is a very beautiful one.
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