Great Big Sea's Séan McCann and his wife Andrea Aragon get honest about how alcoholism impacted their marriage

Singer-songwriter and founding member of the band “Great Big Sea", Séan McCann and his wife Andrea Aragon has a new memoir, "One Good Reason,"  and we caught up with them to ask what led to the creation of their book and why everyone should read it.

The memoir dives into Sean's story of reaching fame but also finding rock bottom. His struggle with alcoholism almost cost him his family, but the honest and raw details outline how he was able to get on the road to recovery by exploring the root cause behind his alcoholism. "That book was a battle for me. As a songwriter, I've trained myself for my entire life to condense big stories into 14-line sonnets with single choruses. To go to long-form was using different muscles and was very challenging. Revisiting the detail of the some of the things I do in the book was very very difficult," Séan explained.

Born and raised in Newfoundland, his band was born in 1992 when the members decided that pursuing their dreams was worth a shot. Andrea and Séan first met in a bar after a show, “The one night stand that never ended, that’s what marriage is, isn’t it," Séan joked.

When we asked Andrea if there was one incident she can remember that led to her speaking up, she said, “I don’t think it was one specific event, but I know it was after I got pregnant. The final straw for me was when he brought a stranger home at 2 or 3 in the morning. I was not going to allow my boys to see that this was the life that they should expect. The kind of partner they should expect. It was the first time I vocalized that I was leaving with the children if he didn’t stop," she explained.

“I failed and failed and failed but this was motivation. The threat of losing everything you actually love is a great fright to get. It worked," Séan confessed. "November 9th, 2011 is the day I got the ultimatum. As an addict, I kind of celebrate that day. It’s a victory for me in many ways but it was also one of the worst days of our lives. It's something we had to live through." Their vulnerability and ability to convey the honesty of their story continues to inspire us!