Jon Secada is a true American Dream come true. Secada immigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of nine and has become a multimillion record selling artist. A product of Public School education in Hialeah, FL he discovered his gift for music at an early age in addition to his passion for his community.
Jon Secada has devoted himself to assisting charitable organizations all over the world and has been active with many causes to help children, education, AIDS research, and child abuse. His commitment to education and helping others lead him to create the Jon Secada Music Scholarship at the University of Miami, his alma mater where he obtain a Bachelor's degree in Music and then earned a Master's degree in Jazz Vocal Performance.
Mr. Secada has also been instrumental in raising funds in Washington, D.C. for the national effort "Keeping Music in Schools." He is a supporter of many initiatives including the Pediatric AIDS Unit at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Lifebeat Concert to benefit AIDS, Amigos Together for Kids, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club, among other charitable organizations. In addition, Jon has been active in the Hurricane Relief Efforts.
His song, "The Last Goodbye," is a tribute song dedicated to the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This song, along with three other versions including an all-star version in Spanish with the participation of over 100 Hispanic Artists around the world, was released as a single, with all proceeds going to the victims' families. Currently, the single has raised some $250,000 for victims' families.
Gloria Estefan hired Jon Secada as a background singer in the 80’s where he also started composing music for her, including some of her best-known songs e.g. "Coming Out of the Dark" Gloria's number one hit from her 1991 album Into the Light. During Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark" tour, Secada was given the life-changing opportunity of taking over the stage and performing solo. The song was "Always Something" which would be featured later on his debut album.
It launched his career as a solo performer. In 1992 Jon released his self-titled debut album Jon Secada (SBK/EMI), which sold over six million copies worldwide and being certified triple platinum in the U.S., where it reached No. 15 among the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 1994 by Secada's second album, Heart, Soul & a Voice (EMI) featured members of The Miami Sound Machine and guests Arturo Sandoval (trumpeter) and Betty Wright (background vocals). The album went Platinum in the US. One of its singles had a top ten Pop hit "If You Go" and a Top 30 hit "Mental Picture", which was used in the soundtrack for the film "The Specialist". His third album on EMI, Amor, was released in 1995 and earned Secada his second Grammy for "Best Latin Pop Performance". Jon co-wrote the song "Bella," the Spanish version of "She's All I Ever Had" for Ricky Martin's 1999 Multi-platinum self-titled album.
He also co-wrote and co-produced the song "Baila" for Jennifer Lopez, which appeared on her 1999 multi-platinum album, On the 6. He worked with teen singing sensation Mandy Moore on two of her tracks, "One Sided Love" and "It Only Took a Minute" from her self-titled multi-platinum album. In 2001 he was a backing vocalist on Enrique Iglesias's album multi-platinum Escape on the tracks "Don't turn off the Lights" and "Love 4 Fun". Jon Secada has performed with opera legend Luciano Pavarotti and recorded a duet with Frank Sinatra on "The Best Is Yet to Come" from Sinatra's Duets II album.
In 1995, Secada starred on Broadway's hit musical Grease, where he acted in the lead role of "Danny Zuko". Broadway called upon Secada once again in 2003, where he played the Emcee role in Sam Mendes' acclaimed version of Cabaret. In the fall of 2004, Secada also starred as "Joseph" in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's theatrical hit Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. The committee is charged with creating a multi-year action plan aimed at closing the educational achievement gap between Hispanic students and their peers.
Most recently Jon has served has an American Idol” Latin America, Star Judge for 3 years, ?on Dancing of the Stars and Mira Quien Baila on Univision and has a New Single Release– “Dejame Quererte” on YME Records/Universal and his New Latin Album “Otra Vez” on YMW Records/Universal is out and doing well making Jon Secada is a true South Florida Icon.
Jon will receive the honor at the annual FREC Star Gala to be held on November 12, 2011 at the Magic City Casino in sunny Miami, FL.
