Renowned for her elastic contralto and jazz-scat vocal gymnastics, singer Phoebe Snow was born Phoebe Laub on July 17, 1952 in New York City. During her childhood in Teaneck, New Jersey, she initially studied piano, but switched to the guitar in her teens, writing poetry which gradually mutated into her first songs. Overcoming her stage fright, Snow began playing Greenwich Village clubs in the early 1970s, honing an eclectic set which spotlighted both folk and pop sounds as well as jazz, blues and even torch songs.
After signing to Leon Russell's Shelter label, Snow issued her self-titled debut LP in 1974; on the strength of her Top Five smash "Poetry Man," the album itself rose to the number four position.