13 Facts About Valaida Snow

Valaida Snow was an American jazz musician and entertainer who performed internationally.

Valaida Snow was known as "Little Louis" and "Queen of the Trumpet," a nickname given to her by W C Handy.

Valaida Snow's mother, Etta, was a Howard University-educated music teacher and her father, John, was a minister who was the leader of the Pickaninny Troubadours, a group mainly consisting of child performers.

Valaida Snow then held a residency at a Harlem cabaret, which helped lead her to be cast alongside Josephine Baker in the musical In Bamville, a follow-up to the enduring hit musical Shuffle Along.

Valaida Snow performed in the Ethel Waters show Rhapsody in Black, in New York.

Valaida Snow was imprisoned in a Copenhagen jail during WWII when Nazi soldiers took over Denmark, where she was touring.

Valaida Snow died aged 51 of a brain hemorrhage on May 30,1956, in New York City, backstage during a performance at the Palace Theater.

Valaida Snow had 3 sisters Lavaida, Alvaida, and Hattie all of who were professional singers.

In 1943 Valaida Snow married Earle Edwards who later became her manager.

In interviews after returning from Europe during World War II, Valaida Snow claimed she had been in a Nazi concentration camp.

Historian Jayna Brown studied the controversy over Valaida Snow's alleged rumor regarding being detained in a Nazi concentration camp, and concluded that she had not been in a concentration camp.

In October of 1941, Valaida Snow was living under some sort of surveillance in Copenhagen until she was detained with no criminal charges on March 12,1942, and sent to Vestre Faengsel.

Brown indicates that this period was used to treat Valaida Snow's alleged drug addiction, and as a way to ensure that she would be able to return to the US.