Songoftheday 9/23/18 - Police-a them-a they come and-a they blow down me door, One ee come crawl troo my window,

"Informer" - Snow
from the album 12 Inches Of Snow (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (seven weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 19

Today's song of the day comes from Darrin O'Brien, a Canadian from Toronto who recorded under the moniker Snow, who with the help of DJ Marvin Prince and rapper MC Shan, recorded his debut album 12 Inches Of Snow. Released when Snow was incarcerated on an assault charge, the storyline of first single "Informer" was made even more topical. Written by the artist with Edmond Leary and Shawn Moltke, the MC Shan-produced track would be so convincing in his reggae toasting delivery that people were convinced he was from Jamaica. With verses about going to jail rather than snitching, it was the biggest hit of the genre ever... There's a subtle sample of "Assembly Line" from the Commodores in the verses...

 "Informer" spent seven weeks at #1 on the American pop chart in March and April of 1993. The song also climbed to #10 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes on the maxisingle helped it rise to #24 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Australia, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and New Zealand. The track also hit the top ten in the UK (#2), the Netherlands (#2), Belgium (#2), Austria (#2), France (#3), Greece (#6), Portugal (#7), Iceland (#8), and Canada (#9). In 1994, Snow won a Juno Awards (Canada's "Grammy") for best reggae recording, while his album 12 Inches Of Snow was nommed for Best Album and Snow himself for Best Male Singer.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's Snow appearing live on Canadian TV in 1993 on an AIDS awareness program...

and on Top Of The Pops in the UK when the single hit #2 there...

and on the Juno Awards show, where he won one and was nominated for three, including Album of the Year...

Earlier this year, Snow re-recorded "Informer" for an indie single release...

And finally, just like Vanilla Ice before him, Snow got the parody treatment from the TV sketch show In Living Color, with Jim Carrey playing with his whiteness...

Up tomorrow: