Jack Johnson (musician)
Jack Hody Johnson[1] (born May 18, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, primarily in the soft rock and acoustic pop genres.[2][3] Johnson has reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart with his albums Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George in 2006, Sleep Through the Static in 2008, To the Sea in 2010 and From Here to Now to You in 2013. His album In Between Dreams peaked at number two on the chart in 2005 and again in 2013.[4]
This article is about the pop rock musician. For other people with the same name, see Jack Johnson.
Jack Johnson
Jack Hody Johnson
May 18, 1975
North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii, U.S.
- Singer-songwriter
- multi-instrumentalist
- professional surfer
- filmmaker
- Vocals
- guitar
- ukulele
- keyboards
1992–present
3
Johnson is active in environmentalism and sustainability, often with a focus on the world's oceans. Johnson and his wife Kim created the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation and the Kōkua Hawaii Foundation.[5] In 2008, Johnson adopted the concept of greening (reduce and reuse), and donated 100% of the proceeds of the Sleep Through the Static tour to the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation. Similarly, the proceeds from 2010 To the Sea album tour went to All at Once, a Johnson-backed collaboration of greening charities promoting fan involvement.[6][7][8]
Early life[edit]
The son of surfer Jeff Johnson,[9] Jack was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.[10] He began to learn how to surf at the age of 5. At 17, he became the youngest invitee to make the finals of the Pipeline Masters, one of surfing's most prestigious events, on Oahu's North Shore. One week later, however, his stint as a professional surfer ended when he suffered a surfing accident at the Pipeline that put more than 100 stitches in his forehead and removed a few of his teeth; this later became the inspiration for the song "Drink the Water".[11][12] He appeared as a surfer in The Endless Summer II in 1994.[13]
Jack Johnson graduated from Kahuku High School on the island of Oahu. He later attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated in 1997[14] with a B.A. in film studies.[15] While Johnson learned the guitar at the age of 8 and started songwriting at the age of 12, his passion for music grew when he played rhythm guitar for the band Soil (not to be confused with the heavy metal band of the same name) in college.[11] In 1994, Zach Gill's band, Django Reinhardt, released a CD that quickly made Django a favorite band of the Isla Vista party scene at UCSB. Django was the rival of Jack Johnson's band Soil, but Gill and Johnson developed a strong friendship, eventually becoming bandmates in later years.[11][16][17] While with Soil at UCSB, Johnson opened for acts such as Sublime and Dave Matthews who were then relatively unknown bands.[11]
Johnson credits his songwriting influences as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Otis Redding, G. Love and Special Sauce, Ben Harper, Sublime, the Beatles, Bob Marley, Neil Young, and A Tribe Called Quest.[18] Johnson names Jimi Hendrix as his all-time favorite guitarist.[19]
Personal life[edit]
Johnson married his college girlfriend, Kim Baker on July 22, 2000,[17][65][66]and they have three children: two sons and a daughter. Johnson lives on the North Shore of the island of Oahu in Hawaii. In an interview with Johnson, Ann Donahue from Billboard described Johnson's family life by saying "There is often trouble in balancing the life of an artist, environmentalist, and family man, but Johnson seems to have the niche for such a challenge. This time around, he's found a pace that agrees with him...bringing his family along so he can spend mornings with them sightseeing."[67] Both Johnson and his wife declined to talk about or release any intimate information concerning their children.[68]
