Jazz And Blues Singer, Phoebe Snow Dies At The Age Of 57

(photo by Andrew H. Walker for Getty Images)

Phoebe Snow, an artist who combined blues, jazz , gospel and folk music to create a style that was uniquely her own,has died.  When Snow sang, you had to listen.  She had a way of vocally coloring the notes that took your breath and made you hollar!  Her phrasing was hypnotic and every note was soul-capturing.  Phoebe was an amazing singer, guitarist and songwriter and was best known for her defining hit of the 1970s, “Poetry Man.”
Phoebe Snow, who was nominated for best new artist at the 1975 Grammys, died Tuesday morning in Edison, N.J., from complications of a brain hemorrhage she suffered in January 2010.  Snow’s manager,said the singer endured bouts of blood clots, pneumonia and congestive heart failure since her stroke.  Over the years, Snow found time to sing on Paul Simon‘s song “Gone at Last” and tour with him, as well as perform at the Woodstock 25th anniversary festival in 1994, as part of a soul act that included Thelma Houston, Mavis Staples and CeCe Peniston.

Snow was also recruited by Steely Dan‘s Donald Fagen to participate in the New York Rock and Soul Revue, which took her, Charles Brown, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and others on tour and into New York’s Beacon Theatre to record a rollicking live album in 1991.

Listen Phoebe Snow sing one of her most popular songs, “Poetry Man.”

And here Phoebe Snow performs one of my favorite songs of all time…”Two-Fisted Love.”

And I had to add one more because I watched it six times in a row!