PHOEBE SNOW
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Phoebe Snow — heritage & background
Quick answer: Phoebe Snow was not mixed race — she was fully Ashkenazi Jewish. Born Phoebe Ann Laub in New York City, both of her parents — Merrill Laub and Lili Laub — were Jewish. Despite her distinctively curly hair that led many to assume she had Black ancestry, Phoebe Snow was white and Jewish, with Eastern European Jewish heritage.
Is Phoebe Snow Mixed Race? Is She Biracial?
No — Phoebe Snow was not mixed race or biracial. Both of her parents, Merrill and Lili Laub, were Jewish Americans. She was of entirely Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. During her career, Phoebe was repeatedly mistaken for being Black due to her curly natural hair — often described as a "Jewfro" — and her exceptionally powerful, soulful voice that resonated strongly with blues and R&B styles. However, Phoebe herself never claimed African-American ancestry and was clear about her Jewish identity.
This misidentification was a significant feature of her career and cultural reception. In the 1970s, when she rose to fame with her debut album and the hit "Poetry Man," audiences were sometimes surprised to discover she was white. Her sound — rooted in jazz, blues, folk, and gospel — drew deeply from Black American musical traditions, and her voice had a range and emotional depth that defied easy categorization by race.
In terms of race, background, and heritage, Phoebe Snow was a white Jewish American woman who absorbed and was deeply influenced by Black American musical traditions without appropriating or misrepresenting her own identity.
What Was Phoebe Snow's Ethnicity?
Phoebe Snow's ethnicity was Ashkenazi Jewish. Born Phoebe Ann Laub on July 17, 1950, in New York City, she grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey — a diverse community in Bergen County with a significant Jewish population. She attended Teaneck High School and graduated in 1968.
Her father, Merrill Laub, was a collector of antiques who had an encyclopedic knowledge of American music, film, and theater — a background that clearly shaped Phoebe's profound engagement with American musical history. Her mother, Lili Laub, was a dance teacher who had performed with the Martha Graham Dance Company — one of the most important modern dance companies in American history.
This culturally rich, Jewish-American intellectual household in New Jersey gave Phoebe Snow a foundation in American artistic tradition that went far beyond typical suburban upbringing. Her Jewish heritage was a source of deep cultural identity for her, and Jewish publications later wrote warmly about her as a figure in the Jewish artistic tradition.
Father's Side: Jewish-American Heritage
Phoebe Snow's father, Merrill Laub, was a Jewish American man whose passion for American cultural history — music, film, theater — became the foundation of Phoebe's own artistic education. His Jewish heritage was part of the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant tradition in New York and New Jersey, likely with roots in Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, or other parts of the former Russian Empire, as was common among Jewish Americans of that generation).
Through her father, Phoebe inherited not just a Jewish ethnic identity but a deep engagement with American cultural life that transcended ethnic boundaries — the kind of broad, passionate American cultural curiosity that has characterized many Jewish-American artists and intellectuals.
Mother's Side: Jewish-American Heritage with Artistic Tradition
Phoebe Snow's mother, Lili Laub, was a Jewish American woman who danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company — one of the pioneering institutions of American modern dance. This artistic heritage gave Phoebe Snow her formative connection to the world of serious, committed artistic practice.
Lili's Jewish heritage was part of the same Ashkenazi tradition that defined the broader Laub family — Eastern European Jewish roots transplanted to the American Northeast, where the Jewish community built a rich cultural life in cities like New York and communities like Teaneck, New Jersey.
Grandparents: A Complete Picture
Paternal Grandfather (Jewish-American): Phoebe's paternal grandfather on the Laub side was of Eastern European Jewish descent, part of the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant community in the United States.
Paternal Grandmother (Jewish-American): Phoebe's paternal grandmother was also of Jewish heritage, part of the Ashkenazi tradition.
Maternal Grandfather (Jewish-American): Phoebe's maternal grandfather was of Jewish heritage, likely also of Eastern European Jewish descent.
Maternal Grandmother (Jewish-American): Phoebe's maternal grandmother was also Jewish, completing the picture of entirely Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry on all four sides.
Specific names and detailed biographical information about Phoebe Snow's grandparents have not been widely documented in public sources.
Spouse's Ethnicity & Children's Heritage
Phoebe Snow never married publicly. She did have a daughter, Valerie Rose Laub, born in 1975, who had severe brain damage at birth due to medical complications. Phoebe dedicated a significant portion of her life to caring for Valerie, which interrupted her career for many years. Valerie died in February 2011, just two months before Phoebe's own death in April 2011.
Phoebe Snow in Her Own Words on Race & Identity
"I'm a Jewish girl from New Jersey who loves jazz and blues and gospel. Music doesn't have a race. It just has feeling." — Phoebe Snow (paraphrased from various interviews)
Phoebe Snow navigated the complex territory of being a white Jewish woman whose musical soul was deeply connected to Black American traditions. She was never confused about her own identity — she was Jewish, she was from New Jersey, she was white — but she was also someone whose spirit was moved by the same forces that created blues, gospel, and jazz. The misidentification she experienced during her career was a form of racial ambiguity created by her hair and her voice, but not by her background or her self-understanding.
Is Phoebe Snow Alive?
No, Phoebe Snow is deceased. She died on April 26, 2011, in Edison, New Jersey, at the age of 60. The cause of death was complications from a brain aneurysm she had suffered in 2010. She had spent much of her adult life caring for her severely disabled daughter Valerie, who had died just two months earlier in February 2011. Phoebe Snow is remembered as one of the most talented and original singer-songwriters of the 1970s, best known for "Poetry Man" (1974) and "Harpo's Blues" (1975).
Visual Family Tree
Phoebe Ann Laub "Snow" (Ashkenazi Jewish)
Merrill Laub (Jewish American)
[Paternal Grandfather] (Eastern European Jewish American) · [Paternal Grandmother] (Eastern European Jewish American)
Lili Laub (Jewish American)
[Maternal Grandfather] (Eastern European Jewish American) · [Maternal Grandmother] (Eastern European Jewish American)
Sources
Genealogy & Ethnicity Research
Jewish Heritage & Legacy
- Phoebe Snow: Artist, Interrupted — The Wisdom Daily
- Remembering my friend, Phoebe Snow — Jewish Journal
Death & Career
EthniCelebrity Research Team
Ethnicity & Heritage Writers
Our team specialises in researching and documenting the ethnic backgrounds, nationality, and ancestry of public figures — drawing on genealogical records, interviews, and verified biographical sources.