Born into a family of factory workers, Ivan Jadan learned the trade of blacksmith, but began singing in a church choir. During military service, he became the first singer of the regiment and joined a vocal group that performed operatic arias. In 1923, with a recommendation from Stalin's friend, Marshal Voroshilov, he was accepted into the Moscow Conservatory. Working as a blacksmith instructor at the air force academy to make ends meet, Jadan had his first chance to perform on the radio in 1926. A year later, he was accepted into the Bolshoi's operatic studio, then directed by Konstantin S. Stanislavky. In July 1928, he was hired by the Bolshoi Theater, first as singer of supporting roles, soon as a soloist, performing, for example, the "Song of the Indian Guest" in Rimsky-Korskov's opera "Sadko" and the role of Prince Sinodal in Anton Rubinstein's opera “Demon” (1929). Other leading roles include Werther in Jules Massenet's opera "Werther" and Lensky in Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin."

Jadan toured all over the Soviet Union. Between 1928 and 1937, he also recorded more than a dozen operatic arias and Russian romances for a number of Soviet labels. In 1935, he and several other Russian artists successfully toured Turkey where the first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, presented him with a golden cigarette case. In 1937, Jadan enjoyed a huge triumph as Lensky in Riga, Latvia. He extended his stay so that he could perform in "Faust" and "Rigoletto" as well, and the Soviet ambassador to Latvia arranged for him to have his costumes for these roles flown to Riga on a special plane. Jadan's subsequent request, however, to extend his stay even more so he could also perform in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania was denied. Jadan fell into disfavor with Stalin, was no longer invited to the Kremlin, received lowered concert wages, and was allowed to sing only in "Eugene Onegin" and "Demon" from then on.

The final break, however, came in 1941. Jadan had evacuated his family from Moscow to his dacha in Manikhino, east of Leningrad, when the village was caught in the German advance. Facing certain deportation to a Gulag if he remained in Manikhino, Jadan and his family followed the German army's retreat. In 1943 and 1944, he made a few recordings for the German Polydor label in Berlin. In November 1944, he performed at a concert for the Russian Liberation Army that Nazi Germany had formed out of Soviet prisoners of war.

After the war, Jadan and his family ended up as displaced persons in Offenbach/Main. In 1948, he managed to immigrate to the United States. He was unable, however, to resume his singing career. He gave a few concerts before mostly Russian audiences, including one in Carnegie Hall. Then he moved the warmer climate of Florida, where he, accompanied by pianist Adela H. Gonzmart, gave a series of concerts between 1952 and 1954. The concerts were recorded by the Polydor label, but a comeback eluded him. In 1955, he relocated to St. John in the Virgin Islands, where he worked as mason on one of the Rockefeller farms. He gave his last concert on St. John in January 1966.