Whatever happened to Phoebe Snow?

[Daddy Dee]

Well, I had no idea of Phoebe Snow's personal life taking care of her disabled daughter, Valerie. I have never heard Phoebe sing live, but I sure would like to. This just had never been up on my radar screen. I imagine that she looks back on her life and choices without regret. That is fairly rare in my observation of folks.

by Roger Friedman - Fox News Entertainment

Valerie Rose Laub died on Sunday. She was an astonishing 31 years old. You dont know who Valerie was, but Ill tell you: she was Phoebe Snows
daughter. Valerie was born with such a confluence of injuries in 1975
that no one knew what was wrong. Truthfully, I dont think to this day
anyone ever did figure it out.

Phoebe Snow was 23 years old when Valerie was born. Lets say that she was as big as Norah Jones, Joss Stone, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and two dozen other female pop stars all rolled into one.

She
had a huge hit, called "Poetry Man." She had a monster self-titled
album. She was the voice of her generation. You can see pictures of her
with other stars of the time on her Web site. She was going to be the
next big thing, a jazz, pop and R&B singer of singular magnitude.

And then Valerie was born.

As
Phoebe remembers it, everyone told her to have Valerie
institutionalized. They said she wouldnt live very long. For a minute,
Phoebe gave in. But then she came out of her shock, and reclaimed her
child. By then, she owed her record company, Columbia, albums and
money. She would never "recoup" as they say. She would always be in
debt. She missed sessions and fought with record executives. She
wouldnt tour because she felt she shouldnt leave Valerie. She
declared bankruptcy.

There were occasional signs that Phoebe might make a comeback. All of them failed. She had a hit single with Paul Simon,
"Gone At Last." But nothing further came of it. By 1979, she recorded a
terrible album for an Atlantic subsidiary. Her career was really,
completely sunk.

Two things happened that helped in the mid '80s: Charles Koppelman heard her on TV singing a Bloomingdales jingle. He signed her to an album, and it became a minor hit.

"Something
Real" should have relaunched Phoebe Snow, but she was so wigged out
from life with Valerie by then, it wasnt possible. Later she won a
malpractice suit against the hospital where Valerie was born, and the
money made life a little easier. Just a little.

Valerie was 16 in 1991, the year I remember Phoebe announced that her child walked for the first time. It was a miracle.

With
no real diagnosis, and no precedents, Valerie was a medical anomaly.
Phoebe talked about doctors in Mexico and alternative treatments, but
whatever it was, it was a miracle. And thats the way things have been
since then.

Phoebe and Valerie lived in
a small apartment in Fort Lee. Phoebe did occasional gigs, and they
would sell out. To say she became kooky is a kind of way of putting it.
I dont know what she was like before all this, but life devoted to
Valerie was not easy no matter how much Phoebe loved her.

The
child's physical deficiencies were severe, and daunting. Her
communication skills were a challenge. At this point, as Phoebe
continued to care for her child, the mystery of Valerie became almost
spiritual. There was no explanation for why or how she had lived so
long, except that Phoebe had willed it.

When
I heard that Valerie died, my first thought was relief. She had been
released into the cosmos, where her beautiful spirit could roam without
the encumbrance of her physical deficiencies.

Valerie
did and was able to laugh. She had a sense of humor. But she couldnt
share it with many people, just Phoebe, a few close friends and a
caregiver. She was warm, she knew and gave love easily and loved to hug
people she trusted. If theres an afterlife, and just for right now
lets say there is, Valerie Rose is lighting up the stars.

I
cant help but think about Valerie and Phoebe. Over the years, Ive
fallen out of touch with Phoebe. She was not an easy friend, and at one
point the connection was broken.

No matter how Phoebe Snow operated in the music business,
it was never her priority. That was always Valerie. Its hard to
imagine someone giving up a career like that today, and sacrificing
themselves for their child. Thats what Phoebe Snow did for her
daughter.

I dont know what she will do
now that Valerie is gone. Three decades of love and service are over.
But I hope somewhere along the line, no matter whats happened to her
in the business (where her terrible reputation is never far away),
Phoebe Snow gets to sing again. Shell do it for Valerie, and for a
whole generation that got cheated out of knowing Phoebe Snow as a star
the way her daughter did.

[mas]

Sure, I remember her, and we booked her at UT just prior to her self-titled album featuring Poetry Man hitting.

Pretty expressive lyrics and while there was definitely some hype over what some expected her to be, she was never: "Lets say that she was as big as Norah Jones, Joss Stone, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and two dozen other female pop stars all rolled into one." That is simply revisionist wishful thinking! She remained, at most, at about the same level as that of Janis Ian in the same time period. And just like Janis Ian, her material appealed more to the 'disaffected' girl crowd than to the mainstream audience.

The above review seems to completely ignore the fact that she released Phoebe Snow, 1974, Second Childhood, 1976, It Looks Like Snow, 1976, Never Letting Go, 1977, and Against the Grain, 1978, before his selective attention grasps the "by 1979, she recorded a
terrible album for an Atlantic subsidiary" event!

I have her first two albums, and to be honest, I never played them. But I did play other female artists like Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt, Joni Mitchell, and Bonnie Raitt and others during the same period.

To my knowledge there was no conspiracy or anything untoward. The market simply changed. ALLOT! She was simply competing in a market increasingly dominated by disco. And she was pushed to the side just like SO MANY other major artists such as Dan Fogleberg **- as well as so many other folksy balladeers in that wacko wasteland period of the late '70's dominated by disco on the one hand, and atrocious 'over the top' rock acts like Journey and Foreigner on the other. It was no wonder that punk was waiting in the wings!

You can hear her distinctive voice now occasionally singing a few commercials. But I was unaware of the personal challenges she encountered. Its nice to hear that some still have the character to face and address challenges in a society that all too easily rewards the easy and convenient way. She may yet have an opportunity. I wish her well.

(**a digression: Dan Fogelberg was treated for cancer in 2004. He was just one of many who, in Nashville in the early '70's, also
frequented 'Jocks' and the original Exit/In such as 'Johnny'
Hiatt, Mac Gayden, the Scruggs brothers, Kenny Buttrey, and members of
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc. etc. ...Back when the Steeplechase was the largest alternative event in the city! And when you had to be careful or you would risk being arrested for loitering in Centennial park! Hahaha! Yep, you certainly don't want to loiter in a park! Sheriff Fate Thomas...what a jerk.It was a NICE time to be in Nashville, when there was still a sense of community and before it woke up and decided to become a 'big' city. Ah, Nastyville, Tennisshoe! Or if you fly, Bananaville! BNA - get it? Oh well...)

[oldbuckster]

Interesting write-up Daddy Dee................Hat's Off to Phoebe..[Y]......Fame and Fortune isn't everything.....

[pauln]

Never liked what I heard of her on the radio... her voice is abrasive and she tends to waver off key...

[thebes]

Thanks for postng that Daddy. Sounds like she had a hard time of it, made a decision and stuck to it, and did the best she could.

I've got her 1973 self-titled on the TT as I type this. I like it, especially her blues sensibility on certain cuts. She is a sort of speak/singer (not to be confused with Sprechstimmer) but her voice has a natural resonance and is very powerful.

Forgot I had this. Glad you refreshed my memory.

[Mighty Favog]

I still like hearing her on Paul Simon's album "Still Crazy After all These Years" on "Gone at Last". That's a good bouncy tune.