NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn't long after the release of "Poetry Man," the breezy, jazzy love song that would make Phoebe Snow a star, that the singer experienced another event that would dramatically alter her life.
In 1975, she gave birth to a daughter, Valerie
Rose, who was found to be severely brain-damaged. Her husband split from her
soon after the baby was born. And, at a time when many disabled children were
sent to institutions, Snow decided to keep her daughter at home and care for
the child herself.
The decision to be Valerie's primary caretaker
would lead her to abandon music for a while and enter into ill-fated business
decisions in the quest to stay solvent enough to take care of Valerie.
Snow, who worked her way back into the music
performing world in the 1980s and continued to perform in recent years, died on
Tuesday from complications of a brain hemorrhage she suffered in January 2010,
said Rick Miramontez, her longtime friend and public relations representative.
She was 60.
Snow never regretted her decision to put aside
music so she could focus on Valerie's care. She was devastated when her
daughter, who was not expected to live beyond her toddler years, died in 2007
at 31.
"She was my universe," she told the
website PopEntertainment.com that year. "She was the nucleus of
everything. I used to wonder, am I missing something? No. I had such a sublime,
transcendent experience with my child. She had fulfilled every profound love
and intimacy and desire I could have ever dreamed of."
After her stroke last year, Snow endured bouts of
blood clots, pneumonia and congestive heart failure, said her manager, Sue
Cameron.
"The loss of this unique and untouchable voice
is incalculable," Cameron said. "Phoebe was one of the brightest,
funniest and most talented singer-songwriters of all time and, more
importantly, a magnificent mother to her late brain-damaged daughter, Valerie,
for 31 years. Phoebe felt that was her greatest accomplishment."
Known as a folk guitarist who made forays into jazz
and blues, Snow put her stamp on soul classics such as "Shakey
Ground," ''Love Makes a Woman" and "Mercy, Mercy Mercy" on
over a half dozen albums.
Snow's defining hit, however, was "Poetry
Man," which she wrote herself. The song, anchored by her husky voice and a
fluid guitar, was a romantic ode to a married man. It reached the Top 5 on the
pop singles chart in 1975, and garnered her a Grammy nomination for best new
artist.
Soon after that, her daughter was born. She was
born with hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain cavity that inhibits
brain development. Snow's husband, musician Phil Kearns, left her while Valerie
was still a baby.
For years, Snow fought the diagnosis of Valerie's
mental condition, but in 1983, she told The New York Times that she had
accepted her daughter's fate.
"I've finally settled into realizing that my
daughter is what she is," she said. "Any progress she makes is
fantastic, but I no longer foresee any miracles happening. I went through
phases of the occult and of trying to find every single doctor in the country
who could possibly do something. I realize now that I can't move
mountains."
While she was caring for Valerie, her career
started to take a downward spiral. Inexperienced in the music business, she
broke contracts with record companies and others, and found herself embroiled
in a number of lawsuits and severe financial problems.
"With my quick success, I didn't have time to
learn the ropes of the music business," she told the Times in the same
interview. "Because my first record was such a hit, I was terribly spoiled
and I thought I couldn't do anything wrong. I was also desperate to make tons
of money because of my responsibility to my daughter. And there was no longer
any joy in making music."
She started to make her way back into the music
business and by the early 1980s was performing shows again. In 1989, she
released her first album in eight years, "Something Real." She also
supplemented her income doing through the 1980s and into the 1990s by singing
commercial jingle for companies including Michelob, Hallmark and AT&T.
Among her other hits was her duet with Paul Simon
on the song "Gone at Last." She also sang "Have Mercy" with
Jackson Browne.
Snow was born Phoebe Ann Laub to white Jewish
parents in New York City in 1952, and raised in Teaneck, N.J. Though many
assumed she was black, Snow never claimed African-American ancestry.
She changed her name after seeing Phoebe Snow, an
advertising character for a railroad, emblazoned on trains that passed through
her hometown. Snow quit college after two years to perform in amateur nights at
Greenwich Village folk clubs.
In her later years, Snow continued to make an
impact musically. She sang the theme for NBC's "A Different World"
and the jingle "Celebrate the Moments of Your Life" for General Foods
International Coffees. She also sang at radio host Howard Stern's wedding to
Beth Ostrosky in 2008 and for President Bill Clinton, who asked her to perform
at Camp David during his presidency.
In 2003, she released "Natural Wonder,"
her first album of new, original material in 14 years. Her other albums include
1989's "Something Real," and 1981's "Rock Away." In 2008,
she released a live album titled "Live" and a best-of CD in 2001.
After her daughter died, Snow continued to perform.
Despite her devastation; she dedicated each performance to Valerie's memory.
In an interview with CBS' "Sunday Morning,"
she said sometimes it was difficult for her to perform, as she remembered her
daughter.
"And then other nights I feel like it's my
strongest connection to her and it's my way of sharing her with
everybody," she said.
A private funeral is planned for Snow, who is
survived by her sister and other relatives.
AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy contributed to
this report.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/courtesy of Sue Cameron, Robert Raphael)
