Séan McCann, founder of Great Big Sea will release a memoir in April titled One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music, and Love. The narrative moves back and forth between Séan and his wife Andrea Aragon’s points of view as they move through his addiction, and recovery. McCann will be at the Ottawa Writers Festival on May 2nd.
One Good Reason:
A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music and Love
by Séan McCann with Andrea Aragon
ISBN: 9781771088220
Nimbus Publishing
In this deeply personal memoir, co-written with wife Andrea Aragon, singer-songwriter and renowned mental health, addiction, and recovery advocate Séan McCann leaves no stone unturned. Detailing, in powerful and lyrical prose, a childhood in Newfoundland indoctrinated in strict Catholic faith, the creation of the wildly successful Great Big Sea, his courtship and early marriage with Aragon, and the battle with alcoholism that nearly cost him everything, McCann offers readers a love story, a memoir of addiction and recovery, of young love and a strained marriage, of reaching international fame and rock bottom. But most of all, an honest, raw, and inspiring tribute to embracing that we are all worth saving.
At the heart of this insightful coming-of-recovery is McCann’s exploration of the root cause of his alcoholism, a secret he kept until 2014 when he came out as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Aragon’s parallel narrative offers a rare and intimate spousal perspective, making the memoir a nuanced and complex portrait of the effects of addiction on family.
Featuring lyrics from McCann’s celebrated solo career, colour photographs, and original line drawings from singer-songwriter and visual artist Meaghan Smith, One Good Reason is a rallying cry for holding on to the ones you love, helping yourself, and turning music into medicine.
Born on May 22, 1967, in Carbonear, Newfoundland, Séan McCann rose to fame as a founding member of the multi-million-selling folk group Great Big Sea. Today Séan is a renowned mental health, addiction, and recovery advocate who continues to sing and share his story of surviving twenty-five years of alcoholism that once masked a dark secret of childhood abuse at the hands of his trusted family priest. Visit seanmccannsings.com.
