Valaida Snow
Valaida Snow (June 2, 1904 – May 30, 1956) was an American jazz musician and entertainer who performed internationally. She was also known as “Little Louis” and “Queen of the Trumpet,” a nickname given to her by W. C. Handy.
According to a jazz radio show that aired on October 28, 2017, Snow said she was arrested in Europe, apparently going to jail for theft and illegal drugs. While later touring Denmark in 1941, she said she was arrested by Nazis and most likely kept at Vestre Fængsel, a Danish prison in Copenhagen that was run by the Nazis, before being released on a prisoner exchange in May 1942.It was rumored that her friendship with a Belgian police official helped her to board a ship carrying foreign diplomats. According to jazz historian Scott Yanow, “she never emotionally recovered from the experience”. She married Earl Edwards. In the 1950s, she was unable to regain her former success.
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. Her death came three days before her 52nd birthday.