Jack Johnson (musician)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jack Johnson

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Img_capt = Jack Johnson performing at the Austin City Limits Festival 2004.
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Jack Hody Johnson
Born = birth date and age|1975|5|18
Origin = North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii, United States
Instrument = Vocals, guitar, ukulele, piano
Genre = Alternative rock
Acoustic
Folk
Soft rock
Occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, filmmaker, surfer, record label owner
Years_active = 2001–present
Label = Everloving/Brushfire/Universal
URL = [http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/ www.jackjohnsonmusic.com]
Current_members =
Past_members =

Jack Hody Johnson (born May 18, 1975) [ [http://www.e-hawaii.com/stars/index/jack_johnson/default.htm e-hawaii.com] ] is a Hawaii-born singer-songwriter, musician, filmmaker, [http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/band/jack_johnson JackJohnsonMusic.com ] ] and surfer who has achieved commercial success and a dedicated following, after the release of his debut album, "Brushfire Fairytales" in 2001. He has since released four more albums and a number of EPs. His music is best described as acoustic/soft rock.

Biography

Being the son of a famous surfer in the islands, Jeff Johnson, Jack Johnson naturally had an interest in surfing with his best friend Ben Schomer. He began with surfing at the age of 5, and by the time he was 17 he made the finals at the Pipe trial and became the youngest invitee ever to do so. Johnson suffered a surfing accident when he was 17. While recovering from the accident, he acquired an interest in music. He attended Kahuku High School on the North Shore of Oahu.Johnson began writing songs during his college years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, having played the guitar since 14. He was brought up with influences such as Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, Ben Harper, The Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Sublime, and A Tribe Called Quest. One day G. Love was introduced to Johnson for a day of surfing and ended up recording Johnson's song “Rodeo Clowns” for his last album "Philadelphonic". It became the first single from the album, and Johnson sang and played on the track. His four-track demo caught the ears of Ben Harper's producer and right-hand man, J. P. Plunier, who worked with Johnson on his debut album "Brushfire Fairytales" in early 2001 with Harper and his lap steel guitar making a guest appearance. Johnson also made an appearance at Apple Inc.'s "Lets Rock" event on September 9, 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/09/reports_of_my_death.html|title=Reports of my death...|last=Shiels|first=Maggie|date=2008-09-10|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2008-09-21] He has two sons, named Moe and Leo.

Introduction to music

Jack Johnson learned how to surf and skate from his father's best friend Alex Conell. Johnson learned to play the guitar at age of fourteen. He was a professional surfer until an accident at Pipeline in which his front teeth were knocked out and he received almost 150 stitches. [http://www.geocities.com/jackjohnsononline/interviews.htm Jack Johnson Interviews ] ] Although that is when most people believe he changed from a surfer to an artist, in a recent "Rolling Stone" cover story (March 6, 2008) he stated that it actually happened a week before in the finals of the trials of the Pipeline Masters at Sunset Beach on Oahu. At the age of 17 he became the youngest competitor to ever reach the finals; he was eventually disqualified after failing to catch three waves. Johnson realized that the competitiveness was too much for him: "Guys were ready to kill each other to catch the next wave," Johnson remembers. [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/18684236/cover_story_jack_johnson__the_dude_abides/5 Cover Story: Jack Johnson - The Dude Abides : Rolling Stone ] ] The accident allowed time for Johnson to start on his new passions, the guitar and making music. He stated about the accident, "I like to joke that I hit my head so hard that that's why I'm so mellow, but I think it did mellow me out." While he was recovering in bed, he spent his time writing songs and playing guitar. However, Johnson didn't seriously pursue a career in the arts until his college years at the University of California, Santa Barbara. While in school, he met his wife Kim, for whom the song "Do You Remember" was written.Fact|date=March 2008 Johnson also played rhythm guitar for the party band Soil and graduated with a degree in film.

Band members

Jack Johnson's band is composed of:
*Jack Johnson - vocals, guitar, piano
*Adam Topol - drums, percussion
*Merlo Podlewski - bass guitar, vocals
*Zach Gill - keyboards

Discography

Albums

*"Brushfire Fairytales" (2001)
*"On and On" (2003)
*"In Between Dreams" (2005)
*"Sleep Through the Static" (2008)

oundtracks and EPs

* 2000 "Thicker than Water"
* 2001 "Out Cold"
* 2002 "September Sessions" Pirate Looks At 40 and F-Stop Blues
* 2005 "Some Live Songs EP"
* 2005 "Sprout"
* 2006 "Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George"
* 2006 "A Brokedown Melody" Let It Be Sung Home
* 2007 "I'm Not There" – Bob Dylan's ""

Virtual albums & EPs

* 2004 "iTunes Originals - Jack Johnson"
* 2005 "Sessions@AOL — EP"

Compilations

* 1999 G. Love & Special Sauce's "Philadelphonic" – "Rodeo Clowns"
* 2004 G. Love & Special Sauce's "The Hustle" – "Give It to You"
* 2004 Donavon Frankenreiter's self titled album – "Free"
* 2004 Handsome Boy Modeling School's "White People" – "Breakdown"
* 2005 "Look at All the Love We Found" – "Badfish"/"Boss DJ"
* 2005 The Black Eyed Peas' "Monkey Business" – "Gone Going"
* 2005 Animal Liberation Orchestra's "Fly Between Falls" – "Girl I Wanna Lay You Down"
* 2006 G. Love & Special Sauce's "Lemonade" – "Rainbow"
* 2006 Buena Vista Social Club's "" – "Better Together"
* 2007 "" – John Lennon's "Imagine"
* 2007 "Stockings By the Fire" - "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Unofficial bootlegs

* "B.O.A.T."
* "Lullabies"
* "J.O.A.T."
* "J.I.T.B."
* "T.R.I.P.1"
* "T.R.I.P.2"
* "J.O.T.C."
* "Live On 94/7 FM"

About bootlegs

Johnson has stated in several interviews that a big part of his success involved his friends recording "bootlegs" of his tracks and distributing them at surf competitions. Johnson has also stated that he supports the sharing of live recordings and bootlegs of his music, [ [http://www.dailytrojan.com/media/paper679/previousarchive/V142/N59/01-youvegot.59d.shtml Daily Trojan ] ] many of which can be found [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator:%22Jack%20Johnson%22 here] .::"It's pretty crazy. There's stuff I would find online that I'd only given to one friend, so I know how it got there," Johnson says. "It's been a spider-web effect. That's the whole reason all this [success] started. I'm sure there's lots of people who hate [downloading] , but I really dig it."

Concert DVDs (also on iTunes)

* 2005" "
* 2005" "

Chart performance

Albums

ingles

Note: The archive of the Canadian singles chart (downloads) dates back only to 2006 and the archive of the Canadian album chart dates back to 2005.

"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 ITV1. 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.

::"A friend of mine was trying to get this girl named Michelle," said Johnson, "and I tried to write a song that would help him have a laugh at himself because he was spending so much time trying to get her and it obviously wasn't leading anywhere. That was one just to cheer up a friend." [ [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/06/il/il30a.html Johnson hits the road, sharing his 'Dreams' - The Honolulu Advertiser - Hawaii's Newspaper ] ]

ee also

* List of singer-songwriters

References

External links

* [http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/ Official site]
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* [http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200803/jack-johnson-1.html Interview with Jack Johnson About His Commitment to Environmentalism]
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* [http://www.jack-johnson.net/ Official Jack Johnson Fansite]
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