Biography

Snow's only child, her daughter, Valerie Rose, was born December 12, 1975, with a condition known as hydrocephalus. Physicians predicted at Valerie's birth that she would not live very long. Valerie proved physicians wrong. Many advised Snow to institutionalize Valerie, but Snow never considered doing so. Valerie lived to be thirty-one years old. Following Valerie's death on March 19, 2007, Snow made it a point to dedicate each and every performance to her.

Phoebe Ann Laub took her stage surname from the fictitious character created by Ernest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. The fictitious "Phoebe Snow" was a turn-of-the-twentieth-century New York socialite who was depicted in an all-white dress to promote the clean-burning coal (anthracite) used by the DL&W railroad. The message intended was that one could travel the DL&W line without risk of coal dirtying one's clothes. Snow saw the fictional character on a billboard by the railroad tracks near her home when she was a child. In March 2009, Snow told CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979) producer Randall Pinkston, "I went, Well, Snow is a better last name than Laub, so when I grow up I'm going to be using that name".

Snow is a close friend of Linda Ronstadt. Their friendship formed when they met to record a duet.

Her song "Poetry Man" reached number 5 on the pop charts in April 1975. Snow wrote or performed jingles for Bloomingdales, General Electric, Stouffer's, and Salon Selectives. Between 1989 and 1993 Snow performed with Donald Fagen and The New York Rock and Soul Revue. In the mid-1990's Snow appeared periodically in a gospel vocal group with Mavis Staples, Cece Peniston, and Thelma Houston.

She was cremated upon her death and her ashes were scattered.