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, NJ, she initially studied piano, but switched to the guitar in her teens, writing poetry that gradually mutated into her first songs. Overcoming her stage fright, Snow began playing Greenwich Village clubs in the early '70s, honing an eclectic set that spotlighted both folk and pop sounds as well as jazz, blues, and even torch songs.