It's all in the voice for Phoebe Snow. This jazz singer has been wowing crowds since the '70s, when she first started performing professionally on New York's Greenwhich Village coffeehouse scene. Since then, she's become a big name on the jazz charts, and it's hard to find anyone who isn't familiar with her scat stylings and amazing range.

Born Phoebe Laub in 1952, she grew up in New York, learning the piano as a girl before she finally switched to guitar, writing poetry and her first songs. She was gripped by a strong case of stage fright, but worked through it by performing at local coffeehouses, playing everything from jazz to pop standards. Her debut album came out in 1974, earning some critical praise for her single "Poetry Man."

"You make me laugh/'Cause your eyes they light the night/They look right through me, la, la, la/You bashful boy/You're hiding something sweet/Please give it to me, yeah, to me, ya/To me/Ooh, oh, talk to me some more/You don't have to go/You're the Poetry Man/You make things all right, ya, ya," the lyrics to that love song go.

Snow continued to record throughout the '70s, but slowed down in the '80s. She only released two records in that decade. The last one, 1989's Something Real, turned out some charting songs for her. "If I Can Just Get Through The Night" hit a peak of 13 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. After that, records were even more sporadic, with one in 1998, 2003 and a live album in 2008.

Even if her work has slowed, there's plenty in her back catalogue to impress fans of this chanteuse.