Soulful Singer-Songwriter Phoebe Snow Dead at 60

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Phoebe Snow, the singer and songwriter best known for her bluesy voice and the 1975 hit "Poetry Man," died today at the age of 60 from complications of a 2010 cerebral hemorrhage. According to Snow's manager Sue Cameron, the singer had suffered blood clots, pneumonia and congestive heart failure in the time since her stroke. 

Read Rolling Stone's 1975 Cover Story on Phoebe Snow

Snow came to prominence in the Seventies as a folk guitarist but broke through by integrating elements of jazz and blues into her music. In 1975, "Poetry Man" became a Top Five hit, and she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone and as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. She stepped away from the spotlight shortly afterward to care for her daughter Valerie, who was born with significant brain damage. Though Snow would continue to record and perform until 2008, she spent much of her time looking after her daughter until Valerie died in 2007.

Contest: Choose the Cover of Rolling Stone

During the course of her career, Snow performed with many artists including Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, the Sisters of Glory, Queen, Bonnie Raitt and Lou Rawls. She was also a frequent guest on the Howard Stern Show and performed at Stern's wedding in 2008.

UPDATE: Though early reports claimed that Snow died at 58, the New York Times has confirmed that she was 60.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

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