Jack Hody Johnson (born May 18, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. He plays a variety of styles including pop, rock, acoustic, folk, and surf rock.
Johnson's musicianship has earned him multiple spots on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching number one on the 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. His later studio album All the Light Above It Too released in 2017 debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, marking it his seventh top five album.
Born and raised in Hawaii, 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. 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 the 2010 To the Sea album tour went to All at Once, a Johnson-backed collaboration of greening charities promoting fan involvement.
Johnson was born on May 18, 1975, in the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The son of surfer Jeff Johnson, Jack began learning 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. One week later, however, his stint as a professional surfer ended when he suffered a surfing accident at the Pipeline. He had to have more than 100 stitches in his forehead and a few of his teeth were removed; later the incident became the inspiration for his song "Drink the Water". He appeared as a surfer in The Endless Summer II in 1994.
Johnson graduated from Kahuku High School in 1993. He then attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies. 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 a heavy metal band of the same name) in college.
In 1994, Zach Gill's band, Django, released a CD that quickly made Django a favorite band of the Isla Vista, California 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. While part of Soil at UCSB, Johnson opened for acts such as Sublime and Dave Matthews who were then relatively unknown bands.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. Johnson names Jimi Hendrix as his all-time favorite guitarist.
2000–2003: Brushfire Fairytales and On and On
Jack Johnson's big break was writing and contributing vocals for the song "Rodeo Clowns" which was featured on G. Love's 1999 album Philadelphonic. Johnson was introduced to G. Love by a mutual friend who was shooting surf films with him then. After hearing "Rodeo Clowns", G. Love saw Johnson's potential and effortless style and invited him to record with him. That led to the now-famous "Rodeo Clowns" recording, launching Johnson's career.
In addition to his later success as a musician, Johnson is an accomplished filmmaker. He directed the surf films Thicker Than Water (2000) and The September Sessions (2002), in which he also starred. He recorded both movie soundtracks and starred in the 2004 surf film A Brokedown Melody.
Suela released a four-track demo that caught the attention of Ben Harper's producer, J. P. Plunier, who worked with Johnson to produce his debut album Brushfire Fairytales during December 2000 with Harper and his Weissenborn lap steel guitar making a guest appearance. Brushfire Fairytales was released on February 1, 2001, and led to Johnson becoming the opening act in late February 2001 for the last twenty-three cities of Harper's "Innocent Criminals" tour of the United States.
Johnson as well as Adam Topol (drums, percussion) and Merlo Podlewski (bass), who played on Brushfire Fairytales to record his second full-length album On and On; Mario Caldato Jr. was the producer. It was the first album to be recorded at Johnson's Mango Tree Studio in his hometown of North Shore, Oahu as well as the first to be released through The Moonshine Conspiracy Records. On and On was released on May 6, 2003. The Moonshine Conspiracy Records became Brushfire Records; Johnson turned the offices and studios of his Los Angeles based record company into a model of eco-friendliness, with solar power, recyclable CD packaging, and power-saving air conditioners.
2004–2009: In Between Dreams, Curious George, and Sleep Through the Static
On April 3, 2004, Johnson and Ben Harper performed with Toots and the Maytals on Saturday Night Live (season 29, episode 16).
In October 2004, Johnson returned to the Mango Tree Studio with Topol and Podlewski along with Zach Gill (of Animal Liberation Orchestra) playing accordion, melodica, and piano recording his follow-up to 2003's On and On. In Between Dreams was released on March 1, 2005. Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George is a soundtrack album by Johnson, released on February 7, 2006. The album also features Harper, G. Love, Merlo Podlewski and Zach Gill. It was the first soundtrack to be number 1 on the chart since the Bad Boys II soundtrack in August 2003; it was the first soundtrack for an animated film to top the Billboard 200 since the Pocahontas soundtrack in July 1995. Johnson enlisted J.P. Plunier to produce his fourth full-length studio album, Sleep Through the Static. It was recorded using 100% solar energy at the Solar-Powered Plastic Plant studio in Los Angeles. The album featured Gill (keys), Podlewski (bass), and Topol (drums, percussion). Sleep Through the Static was released on February 1, 2008, followed by a world tour. A live album and DVD of Johnson's 2008 world tour titled En Concert, was released on October 27, 2009. The DVD was directed by Emmett Malloy. Johnson was the headliner for the Friday night of the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Johnson spearheaded the Kōkua Festivals (2004–2008 and 2010). Often occurring around Earth Day, the six years of festivals supported the Kōkua Hawai'i Foundation, a charitable organization supporting environmental education in the schools and communities of Hawaii. Kōkua Festival 2004/2005 was a DVD released by Jack Johnson Music showcasing the early Kōkua Festivals. He participated along with Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, and others in the documentary Kōkua 2008: 5 Years of Change (2009). It was produced by Brushfire and Three Foot Giant Productions and shown on Sundance Channel. On April 17, 2012, preceding his 2012 Hawaiian Islands tour, he released the live Kōkua Festival compilation Best of Kōkua Festival. He produced Animal Liberation Orchestra's fifth studio album, Man of the World, which was released on February 9, 2010. The album also features vocals from Johnson.
On February 1, 2010, Johnson's official website announced that his fifth studio album, To the Sea, was in the recording process at the Mango Tree Studio, with a planned worldwide release during the first week of June 2010. The website also announced an accompanying European, Australian and New Zealand tour to coincide with the album's release on midnight May 31. The first single from To the Sea was "You and Your Heart", released on April 6, 2010.
While speaking with the New Zealand radio station ZM, Johnson said that he constantly aiming to build relationships with local pro-environment, non-profit groups. "We try to raise money for a lot of these groups who are doing positive things in the community. We try to focus mostly on environmental education, just trying to get kids out into nature, supporting local farms... " He embarked on a world tour in 2010 with Paula Fuga, a Hawaiian vocalist and ukulele player, performing at a range of venues across the world including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., and Japan. On November 1, 2011, Johnson released a stand-alone single called "In The Morning" featuring Paula Fuga and John Cruz.