Jon Secada On ‘Jon Secada: A New Day,’ His Music & His Childhood [VIDEO EXCLUSIVE]

Jon Secada explores his life’s journey – from his boyhood in Cuba and Spain to making it in the music industry in the United States as a young man – in his memoir, Jon Secada: A New Day.

Jon Secada’s New Memoir

Before Secada became a heavyweight in the music industry, he was a child growing up in Cuba with little musical ambition, whose father was being kept as a political prisoner. For years, the greatest goal that he and his family had was to find a way to leave Cuba and make their way to the U.S.

“We tried to come to the states directly, but that was impossible at the moment unless you had someone to claim you in the states,” Secada explained to uInterview exclusively. “So there were countries that accepted Cuban immigrants and refugees, Spain being one of them, so we chose Spain. We went to Spain and were there for close to two years. It was wonderful – the fact that the Spanish government accepted all these Cuban refugees, and for us, our first initial way out of Cuban seeking our dreams.”

Once they made it to the United States, Jon, then aged 15, and Secada finally experienced the push he needed to commit himself to cultivate his natural talent.

“I knew that I could sing; I always felt that I could sing, but never did anything about it. I was a really shy kid, very introverted all through my childhood and early teens,” Secada revealed. “But in high school, I got the courage to want to be part of the high school music program and audition for a play that was going on at the time. Once I got it into my system, the passion of music, there was no turning back for me and I started music formally.”

Check Out Jon Secada’s uBio HERE

Secada went on to score an introduction to music mogul Emilio Estefan when he was looking for new talent to bring with him when he started his production company in earnest. While working with Estefan, Secada made the acquaintance of singer Gloria Estefan, with whom he had a somewhat contentious, sibling-like relationship.

“Gloria was like a big sister to me. She always has been and was back then. I guess in retrospect I appreciate that. Even though, at the time, I didn’t like what she was trying to do,” Secada said. “I was in the middle of a lot of things that were part of my growing process as an artist. She was seeing it and she was in the middle of it. She was kind of on the sidelines keeping tabs and wanted to make sure that my head was straight in her own way. I appreciate that, I really do.”

Jon Secada: A New Day is currently available in bookstores and online.