I almost got fired from Sony Music over this record

Tuesday we celebrate Esthero's Breath from Another at Kiku, the last night of our trip hop month.

I spent ten years at Sony Music Canada, the first half working radio stations in Toronto, and when I look back there are a handful of artists and albums I would have lost my job over. This was one of them.

In 1998 I was 24, new to the job and trying to prove I belonged in it.

Months before the album came out, a WORK promo CD landed on my desk, and I sat in my office astounded at what I was listening to. It sounded unlike anything else in trip hop, and like nothing I had ever heard come out of Canada.

Esthero, originally from Stratford, co-produced this debut (before going on to work with the likes of Kanye) with Doc McKinney in downtown Toronto.

The problem was radio.

Heaven Sent was too rhythmic for rock, or so I kept being told. My client was CFNY, the one the rest of the rock panel watched, so with Pearl Jam and Korn records as incentives, I dangled every perk I could think of. Lord knows I couldn't use cash.

Every time the station tested it, I noticed it ran late at night when no one was listening.

The week we went for adds, no add came, and there was still nothing two weeks later. I thought we had a good relationship, so I walked into the MD's office and asked him, "What was the point of me taking you for lunch every week if I never eat?"

My accusations turned into a yelling match and I was asked to leave. By the time I got back to my car there was a message from my boss saying come see me when you get in, and I drove back to Leslie Street the whole way sure I was finished.

Instead my boss sat me down, said he loved my passion, and told me to keep fighting but get smarter at it.

A few weeks later the video started working on MuchMusic and the station came around on its own. The MD and I patched things up.

This one is for the radio promo reps who have gone to the wall for records that only we understand. There are people behind every artist who care as much as the artist does, and most of them you never hear about.

As for Esthero. Thanks for showing a generation of artists that we can make it outside our borders.