Snow touches the mic and freestyles on the Caribana Boat Cruise.
Imposter: Parody
Jim Carrey does a parody of Snow’s Informer on the set of In Living Colour.
Lost And Found
For 34-year old Torontonian Darrin O’Brien, better known as Snow, maintaining success stateside has been tricky. His ’93 hit “Informer” scorched up the U.S. singles charts, but he’s gotten the cold shoulder ever since. With a new album dropping this spring, Snow sat down with us to speak on drinking, deportation, and his unexpected comeback album.
Being a white kid in reggae, you must’ve had lots of skeptics?
Snow: At first, there was a lot of racial stuff. Especially when Vanilla Ice came out, because he was claiming that he got stabbed. Then when i came out and said the real stuff, like, i’ve done prison time, people were like, “Ugh!” But now, thanks to people like Eminem breaking down the walls, i think it’s much better.
Word is you were banned from the States for a minute. What was that about?
Snow: It was probably the two attempted murder charges or the aggravated assault charge. In ’94, they threw me out, and two years ago, they let me back in. I haven’t been charged in seven years. Drinking was my problem. I would get angry and get into fights.
Where Are They Now?
Few singers can claim to have watched their careers take off while serving an eight-month jail sentence for attacking a man with a crowbar, but that`s where Toronto-born toaster Darrin ‘Snow’ O`Brien found himself on the eve of the release of his debut single Informer.
O`Brien was out in time to see the song climb to Number 2 in the UK in March 1993, but his criminal record put the brakes on his career, and he sank back into obscurity.
But what`s he up to these days? And has he managed to keep his nose clean?
Snow: ‘People thought it was strange that a white guy was singing reggae, but i grew up in a housing project that was half Irish and half Jamaican. I just filled my brain with it, and suddenly i was doing it myself. In 1989, i went to jail for a year for attempted murder.’ (He denied stabbing a man outside a pub.)
Snow Performs On ZDF TV In Germany
Snow was asked to perform his number one hit, Informer, on the German TV channel ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen).
He was performing as part of a music show which was broadcasting ‘The Best Songs of the Nineties’ special.
MC Shan was unable to accompany Snow in this performance, so the powers that be decided that MC Shan’s part would be performed by a controversial WHITE male stand-in.
Even more controversial was the fact that the stand-in never knew the words to the song, so was asked to cover his mouth with the mic throughout the performance.
That’s the magic of television, kids!
Special thanks to Rocco and Sonja of Germany for supplying the following images of the performance.
