Gord Downie, Ron Sexsmith, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Snow and David Usher are among the artists contributing to a new charity single recorded this week.
Money raised by the song, “Buried Heart,” will go toward a transition and detox centre for female drug addicts and sex trade workers.
While the original idea for the song came from the horrific disappearance of over 50 women from the seedy East Side of downtown Vancouver, it is now meant to raise awareness for women who turn to the streets as a way of life and can’t find a way out.
Statistically, by the time these young women hit 18, the average sex worker has already been on the streets three years. Many come from abusive households or have been abused by someone they trust.
“Any successful writer will tell you that they write about what they know, and that’s what we do.” – Dolo, Ghetto Concept
Darrin O’Brien has never worked a day in his life — kind of. The Toronto-bred singer whose rapid-fire Jamaican patois helped lodge the song ‘Informer’ on top of the Billboard Singles chart for seven weeks back in 1993 admits to having never held employment outside the music business. ‘The first job I ever had was music,’ he says, ‘and it’s a hard job.