Snow will never fall again, that much he promises.
From alcohol abuse to jail to stardom to obscurity and back again has been a mostly upward journey, the only direction to go, the singer has decided.
Born Darrin O’Brien and raised in a heavily Jamaican section of suburban North York, Snow, 31, is clearly enjoying his reincarnation from international reggae-cum-rap star – thanks to his huge hit Informer in 1992 – to pop singer. Long gone are the days when he would go on a two-day bender and wake up in a lockup – or a hospital.
“Never again. I’m never going to let my daughter see me behind bars. Never,” he says. “I learned the hard way, but at least I learned.”
Just being around Snow is like experiencing a moderate to heavy caffeine buzz: his intensity is infectious, as if he’s got a nuclear reactor in his socks that needs to be rigorously stifled just so he can sit still.