Jack Johnson (musician)

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Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson performing in September 2004
Jack Johnson performing in September 2004
Background information
Born May 18, 1975
Origin United States North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii, United States
Genre(s) Alternative
Acoustic Rock
Folk
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, filmmaker, surfer, record label owner
Instrument(s) guitar, ukelele
Years active 1999–present
Label(s) Everloving Records/Brushfire/Universal
Website www.jackjohnsonmusic.com
Members
Jack Johnson
Adam Topol
Merlo Podlewski

Jack Hody Johnson [1] (born May 18, 1975) is a Hawaii-born singer-songwriter who has achieved commercial success and a dedicated following since the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. His latest album is Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George.

Contents

[edit] Early Life

At the age of 5 years Jack was given a surf board and practiced daily near his home in Hawaii. When he was 14 he began to teach himself the guitar.

[edit] Introduction to Music

Jack Johnson was a professional surfer until an accident in which he broke his wrist, had his front teeth knocked out and received more than 150 stitches to his mouth and forehead. This happened when he was 17 years old, 2 weeks after he made the finals for the trials of the Pipe Masters contest. While he was recovering in bed, he spent his time writing songs and playing guitar. He was also a keen skateboarder, and learned how to surf and skate from his father's best friend Alex Conwell. Alex also taught Jack to play the guitar and the flute. Johnson learned to play guitar at age 14, but did not seriously pursue a career in the arts until his college years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated with a degree in film. There, he played rhythm guitar for the hippie rock group "Soil." In his time off after graduating Jack travelled and, during 1997-98, co-directed and shot the purist surf film Thicker Than Water to be released later.

[edit] Music

Making friends with Garrett Dutton of G. Love & Special Sauce, he recorded "Rodeo Clowns" the song is also on the CD "The Horizon Has Been Defeated" to be released on their 1999 album Philadelphonic. Ben Harper also took Johnson under his wing after hearing his music. Johnson's first album, Brushfire Fairytales, was produced by Harper's producer and fellow surfer, JP Plunier. This launched his music career and led to the release of his first album, Brushfire Fairytales, in 2001 to aid in the Thicker than Water soundtrack. Jack toured with Ben Harper and gained much publicity from that tour.

After touring for almost two years, Johnson recorded his second album, On and On, to generally favorable reviews in late 2003. Many of the songs on On and On had previously been released on bootlegs, such as J.O.A.T. and B.O.A.T., but received the accompaniment of a full band on the new album.

His third studio album, In Between Dreams, was released on March 1, 2005. For the In Between Dreams, Johnson started his own label titled Brushfire Records. A studio, the Mango Tree, was built in Hawaii by Johnson's brother to facilitate the new record label. Over a year later, it was still on the charts, where it was positioned at #3 (March 21st 2006). Also released in 2006 was the album Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George.

Johnson was featured on the Sublime tribute album Look at All the Love We Found, and was on Handsome Boy Modeling School's White People, released in 2004. In 2005 he appeared on the Black Eyed Peas album Monkey Business on the track Gone Going, which was, in effect, a remix of Johnson's own song "Gone" from his On and On album.

In February 2006, he won a Brit Award for Best International Newcomer, beating The Pussycat Dolls, John Legend, The Arcade Fire and Daniel Powter. In May 2006, "In Between Dreams" surpassed one million sales in the UK.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Soundtracks and EPs

[edit] Virtual albums

[edit] Trivia

  • Johnson is a vegetarian, a humanitarian and close confidant of comedian Chris Burright. The two friends have a time share on the north shore of Maui, where the unveiling celebration for Johnson's "Brushfire Fairytales" album took place.
  • Before signing with Brushfire records, Johnson belonged to an unsigned band by the name of "Ahaiiluo" the Hawaiian word for love. Other Members of the band included bassist Andrew Campbell and back-up guitarist Brian Robillard who now plays with upcoming musician Mason Jennings.
  • In the music video for "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing", everything happens in reverse. Johnson is pelted with various objects and liquids are dumped over his head, but everything appears to fly away from him as the video plays backward from the way it was filmed. In order to achieve this, Johnson learned to mouth all of the lyrics to the song backwards.
  • The music video for his song "Taylor" features a guest appearance from actor Ben Stiller.
  • The song "Do You Remember" on the In Between Dreams album is a true story about how he met his wife.
  • Johnson likes to perform barefoot on stage, making a trend followed by many of his fans.

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Hot 100 U.S. Modern Rock UK Singles Chart
2002 "Flake" #73 #22 - Brushfire Fairytales
2002 "Bubble Toes" - #39 - Brushfire Fairytales
2003 "The Horizon Has Been Defeated" - #31 - On and On
2004 "Taylor" - - - On and On
2004 "Wasting Time" - - - On and On
2005 "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" #66 #25 - In Between Dreams
2005 "Good People" - #29 #50 In Between Dreams
2005 "Breakdown" - #40 #73 In Between Dreams
2005 "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing"
[UK Re-Release]		 - - #65 In Between Dreams
2006 "Better Together" - - #24 In Between Dreams
2006 "Upside Down" #38 #25 #30 Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George / Soundtrack of the Curious George movie

[edit] "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" re-issue

The single, "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" only became a chart hit in the United Kingdom, after the re-release climbed into the Top 10 following Jack Johnson's exposure on the 2006 Brit Awards on ITV 1. The single climbed to hit status a week before the release of "Better Together". Both the original release and indeed the re-issue had failed to chart until this point.

[edit] Unofficial bootlegs

[edit] Films

Jack produced a film called Thicker Than Water and it received props in Surfer magazine for Video of the Year during 2000.

[edit] Other projects

Jack Johnson also owns Brushfire Records which released the soundtracks for the aforementioned films. Other artists on that label include Matt Costa, Animal Liberation Orchestra, and G. Love & Special Sauce.

In 2004, Johnson co-founded the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that supports environmental education in the schools and communities of Hawaii. The Kokua Festival is the Kokua Hawaii Foundation's annual benefit event that brings together environmental organizations, eco-friendly businesses, musicians, artists, teachers, and community leaders to promote environmental awareness in Hawaii.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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