JAY SEAN HID UNEMPLOYMENT FROM HIS FAMILY

Jay Sean refused to tell his family he quit his record label in 2006 - and the British R+B singer spent months pretending to go to work to stop his relatives discovering he was unemployed.

The Down hitmaker shot to fame in his native U.K. in 2003, scoring a string of hit singles before he parted ways with his Virgin record label in 2006.

The 26-year-old star struggled to get his career back on track, and admits he hid the truth from his family - getting dressed and going to work as usual to pretend nothing was wrong.

He says, "Every day I'd leave home, convincing my family I was going to work, and I'd just park up at my mate's house and sit and play video games. Nobody gave a s**t any more."

The singer's brother, Naroop, adds, "In the Asian community if you've had one bit of success all of a sudden they think you've got huge amounts of money. So he had to create the impression he was doing something. If you're not successful at what you do, you're deemed a failure. But he's not the type to waste his life away."

Sean eventually went back to work, writing songs with a producer pal which later secured him a deal with Bryan 'Baby' Williams' Cash Money Records and propelled him to stardom Stateside - and he insists he's glad he didn't give up on his music career.

He adds, "That feeling when you win people over, nothing beats that."