Phoebe Snow

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.)

Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) 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".

She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves."

Phoebe Ann Laub was born in New York City in 1950, 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.

Snow was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968.

She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate.

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.

Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that territory.

It was at The Bitter End club in 1972 that Denny Cordell, co-owner (with Leon Russell) of Shelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording, recording at The Church Studio.

She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, including "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Poetry Man", in 1974, featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, David Bromberg, and Dave Mason.

The album spawned a top five 1975 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Poetry Man" and was itself a top-five album in Billboard, for which she received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

The cover of Rolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson 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 on Saturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Simon and Linda 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 with Valerie Simpson and Patti Austin, from 1975.

Both "Gone at Last" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" appear on Simon's Grammy-winning 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years.

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records.

Snow ended up signed to Columbia Records.

Her second album, Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced by Phil Ramone.

It was jazzier and more introspective, and was a RIAA Certified Gold Album for Snow, with the Gold Album awarded on July 9, 1976.

She moved to a more rock-oriented sound for It Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 with David Rubinson producing.

1977 saw Never Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978's Against the Grain was helmed by Barry 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 guitarist Arlen Roth as her lead guitarist and musical director.

Her January 1979 cover of the Paul McCartney song "Every Night" reached No. 37 in the UK.

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.

In 1981, Snow, then signed with Mirage Records, released the album Rock Away, but the album disappointed music critic Geoffrey Himes.

The 1983 Rolling 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 commercial jingles for AT&T, General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, Stouffer's, Hampton Bay Ceiling Fans, and others to support herself and her daughter.

Snow recorded the theme song for the first season of the TV series 9 to 5.

(Dolly Parton's vocals were used for the rest of the show's run.) Snow also sang the theme song for NBC's A Different World during the show's first season (1987–88).

In 1988, a duet with Dave Mason, called "Dreams I Dream," reached No. 11 on the US adult contemporary charts.

Snow returned to recording with Something Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts.

Also, Snow composed WDIV-TV (Detroit)'s "Go 4 It!"

In 1995 she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory.