AFTER more than a 15-year Snow returns to the dancehall

AFTER more than a 15-year hiatus, Canadian artiste Snow returns to the dancehall arena with the single Shame.

Produced by Florida-based Kent Jones and Cool & Dre, Shame was done with former Black Uhuru singer Mykal Rose.

"It is a song really about where I have been in my life emotionally. I have been far away and I just expressed it in this single," Snow, 44, told the Sunday Observer.

He said Shame is first single from a work-in-progress EP. He was unable to give details of a release date.

He got a personal and professional boost recently when he acquired a United States visa; his previous visa to that country was revoked in 1993. This, he believes, would help put his career back on track.

"When I was deported from the United States, that slowed things down for me. I had management issues too. Now they've opened back the door for me to re-enter the States, I am back to recording. This takes me much closer to Jamaica," he said.

It has been 12 years since Snow released an album. But he insists he is aware of the changes in musical styles and does not feel threatened by younger acts.

"Music is not a competition for me. I just want to have fun. As long as my mother can dance to my tunes, then I am OK. A lot has changed over the years, but I am just back to do music," he stated.

Snow (given name Darrin O'Brien) came to prominence in 1993 after releasing his debut album 12 Inches Of Snow which contained the mega-hit Informer.

His other hits include Girl I've Been Hurt, Si We Dem No Kno We and Anything For You, a collaboration with Nadine Sutherland, Buju Banton, Terror Fabulous, Beenie Man, Louie Culture and Kulcha Knox.

The latter was done in 1997 for EastWest Records, a subsidiary of Elektra Records, which had a strong reggae/dancehall roster at the time.