On a trip to
New York, Marvin Prince was able to pitch Snow's music to rap star
M.C. Shan. In 1991, Snow went to New York, where Shan introduced him to music producers David Eng and Steve Salem. Snow signed a contract to record on their Motorjam/
Elektra record label, then they recorded his debut album
12 Inches of Snow. Due to Snow's impending return to prison, the album was recorded very quickly.
12 Inches of Snow was released in 1992, while Snow was in prison. Shan, Eng, Salem, and Prince promoted it and, by the time Snow was released from prison, the single "
Informer" was a
chart-topping hit.
12 Inches of Snow sold over 8 million copies worldwide, with the "Informer" single remaining number 1 on the American
Billboard charts for seven consecutive weeks. "Informer" has been recorded twice in the
Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling reggae single in US history, as well as the highest charting reggae single in history. A second single, "Girl I've Been Hurt", reached Number 19 on the Hot 100. In Japan, Snow received the
Recording Industry Association of Japan's 1994
Japan Gold Disc Award for New Artist of the Year.
Origin of stage name After one of Snow's neighbouring Jamaican families introduced him to reggae, one of his neighbours called him "
Snow White" and the name stuck. Later, Snow's friend Marvin Prince created the
backronym "Super Notorious Outrageous Whiteboy", but Snow never claimed the title himself.
Legal disputes over production of 12 Inches of Snow While touring as Snow's DJ in December 1994, Marvin Prince abruptly left the tour after discovering that Snow, according to court documents, "was receiving more money from management than he was." While listed as only the writer of the song "Runway" on the
12 Inches of Snow album, Prince claimed to have co-written five songs and co-produced the album with Shan, Eng, and Salem. Prince alleged that Eng and Salem provided "a draft of a multi-album production and recording agreement" to both Snow and himself. Unable to understand the contract, Snow allegedly "sent a copy to his mother to get legal advice from her friend" and Prince "never saw the agreement again." Moreover, Prince claimed to have entered an "oral agreement" with Snow implying that the two would share profits from the album "fifty-fifty". The first agreement, Prince alleged, occurred "in 1990, when the two men began working together on songs in Prince's basement and he "allegedly suggested to" Snow, "if something comes out of this, let's be partners." The second oral agreement, according to Prince, took place in August 1991 while Snow auditioned for Shan. Snow referred to Prince as his partner in a promotional video, but claimed to have used the term "only in the slang sense." Prince "admitted that these discussions were not concrete; the parties never organized a formal business plan, nor was plaintiff in New York to advance defendant's career." Shan, Eng, and Salem testified that they were unaware of a partnership between Snow and Prince, and Shan denied that Prince co-produced
12 Inches of Snow and co-wrote the five songs in question. "Informer", for example, was officially written by Snow, Shan, and composer Edmond Leary. Years later, after Snow and Prince had their falling out, Prince unsuccessfully sued Snow for compensation. While Prince had initially been awarded a $1.5 million settlement by a jury, the court overturned the original ruling and dismissed Prince's suit on the grounds that he had "no viable claims" to a partnership with Snow. Co-producer and co-writer Edmond Leary later claimed M.C. Shan unfairly received most of the production credits for
12 Inches of Snow. He told
Vice, "So actually, if you want the truth of the matter, if we hadn't done it equally and had to split up the money I would have gotten 70% of writer's [royalties] off that album they probably would have split up 30, because I wrote most of that album. Most of the words were mine, and the ideas and structures and backgrounds in the vocal booth with me telling him what keys to sing the harmonies in and what have you. So I had a lot to do with that sound that became so popular and went Platinum." After struggling with a cocaine addiction and homelessness, in 2013 Leary was a
street performer at
Madison Square Park and Union Square.
International success In 1994, Snow collaborated with
Cyndi Lauper on
Junior Vasquez's
Homegrown and
Sly and Robbie's
Pop Goes the Dancehall remix of "
Girls Just Want to Have Fun", retitled "Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)". Eng had a studio in Jamaica and, in 1994, Snow recorded his second album
Murder Love in Jamaica, Canada, and New York. While not a commercial success in North America, the album featured Snow performing with reggae and dancehall musicians
Ninjaman,
Junior Reid,
Half Pint,
Buju Banton,
Beenie Man,
Dave Kelly, and
Sly and Robbie. The "
Anything for You" remix became a club favorite and, according to
Billboard's Elena Oumano, made Snow a figure of respect on the Jamaican music scene. "Anything For You" became the top-selling single in Jamaica in 1995 and "
Si Wi Dem Nuh Know We" also reached the number one slot in Jamaica.
Murder Love proved to be a popular album in Asia, with the single "
Sexy Girl" remaining on Japan's Top Singles chart for 16 weeks, ultimately reaching number one. The success of
Murder Love allowed Snow to tour Asia and collaborate with Thai rap artist
Joey Boy. In 1996, Eng established an office in
Bangkok, founded Dimsum Entertainment, and included Snow in this expansion. In 1996, Eng produced Joey Boy's album
Fun, Fun, Fun. Snow performed on the chart-topping Thai single "Fun, Fun, Fun" and appeared in the music video. Joey Boy appeared on Snow's Thai single "Me and Joey". In 2008, Snow also featured Joey Boy on the track "Catch a Kick". By the end of 1996,
Murder Love's "Si We Dem Nuh Know We" received a
Juno nomination for Best Reggae Recording. Overall, the album produced three music videos: "
Anything For You", "Anything For You (All Star Cast Remix)", and "Sexy Girl". In the 1995 film
Klash, Snow appears performing "Rivertown". Snow followed up
Murder Love with an album named after his daughter,
Justuss. The first single "
Boom Boom Boogie" took Asia by storm, achieving gold status with the music video appearing on MTV Japan five to six times a day. Released in the United States and Canada in 1997, the single "If This World Were Mine" failed to chart but the video regularly appeared on
The Box. The album reached number 12 on the U.S. reggae charts and in 1998 was nominated for Best Reggae album at the
Juno Awards in Vancouver, British Columbia. In late 1997, Snow released a "Greatest Hits" compilation, called
The Greatest Hits of Snow. In 1999, Snow reunited with M.C. Shan, producing the album
Cooler Conditions in Japan. The only single, "The Plumb Song", spent eight weeks on the Japan Singles chart, peaking at number 27. It was recorded at
Metalworks Studios in
Mississauga, Ontario.
Return to the Canadian charts In 2000, Snow signed to
Virgin Music Canada. Later that year, he released the album
Mind on the Moon. The single "
Everybody Wants to Be Like You" landed Snow back on the Canadian Singles chart and earned him three Juno nominations. In 2002, Snow worked with
Shaggy and
Blu Cantrell's producer to record
Two Hands Clapping. "
Legal", the first single, reached number 13 on the
Canadian Singles Chart.
2013–present In 2013, after
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer complained about the company's "hold" music during a fourth-quarter earnings call, Snow and the Jingle Punks recorded a much publicized jingle for Yahoo. The lyrics went, "You're on hold / Hold on at Yahoo / Gimme a second while I patch you through," goes the first verse. "The CEO didn't like the hold music / So Daddy Snow wrote this jam for you." In summer 2014 while in Miami, Florida, Snow signed with Bugatti Music Entertainment and teamed up with Grammy-winning producers
Cool & Dre, Kent Jones and
Scott Storch and began recording again. On October 2, 2014, Snow's new single "Shame" was released, featuring
Mykal Rose (
Black Uhuru). On October 11, 2014, Snow announced that all proceeds from "Shame" will be donated to the fight against cancer. On June 19, 2017, Snow was awarded the Socan Classics 100,000 Radio Performances in Canada for commemorating more than 100k times his music has played on radio. On January 23, 2019, Puerto Rican rapper
Daddy Yankee released the reggaeton and dancehall song "
Con Calma" featuring Snow, which has been described as a remake or reimagination of "Informer". The single peaked at number 22 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming Snow's first entry on the chart since 1993, and reached number one on the US
Hot Latin Songs list. Internationally, the track topped the charts of five Spanish-language countries and reached the top 10 in 10 others in Latin America. Across Europe, the song entered the charts of numerous countries, peaking at number 14 in Italy and number 23 in Switzerland. In the Netherlands, the song rose to number one in April 2019. "Con Calma" also became Snow's first entry on the
Canadian Hot 100 chart after debuting at number 99 in February 2019. It eventually peaked at number 6. On October 17, 2019, Snow and his wife Tara O'Brien attended the 5th Annual Latin American Music Awards in Hollywood, California at the
Dolby Theatre. Snow was nominated for three awards. In February 2020, Snow won four awards Song of the Year with Daddy Yankee for "Con Calma" at
Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. In March 2020, Snow was given the Pop Music Award from SOCAN. Snow and Daddy Yankee won the Top Latin Song of the Year at the 2020
Billboard Music Awards, and "
Con Calma" won big at the Latin
Billboard Music Awards on October 21, 2020, with Snow taking home six awards. Snow attended the awards with Tara O'Brien in Florida. == Television and film appearances ==