Jon Secada

Jon Secada was born Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez in Havana on October 4, 1961 and after immigrating to the US in 1971, grew up in Miami, Florida. Raised in Hialeah, a city in the Miami metropolitan area, Secada received a Bachelor of Music and in 1986 completed a Master of Music in jazz vocal performance, both from the Frost School of Music. In 1991, he legally changed his name to Jon and went on to become one of the world’s best-selling Latin music stars, scooping two Grammy Awards and working with leading lights like Gloria Estefan. Secada co-wrote six songs on Estefan’s multi-platinum 1991 album Into the Light and scored a Number 1 for album track "Coming out of the Dark”. The following year, he released his self-titled debut album, which was awarded Best Latin Pop Album at the 1992 Grammy Awards, and Secada picked up a slew of other awards, including Best Latin-Pop Artist at the Billboard Latin Music Awards and Best Male Vocalist at The Rolling Stone Awards. 1994 saw the release of Secada’s third and fourth albums, Heart, Soul & A Voice and Si Te Vas, as well as a duet with Frank Sinatra, a re-recording of "The Best Is Yet to Come," released on Sinatra's album Duets II. Secada went on to complete an array of musical ventures, including a stint as a judge on Latin American Idol from 2006 to 2009. His latest album, a tribute album of cover songs titled To Beny Moré With Love, came out in 2017.