By, Jennifer Brookridge

Before we knew Jack Johnson as the incomparable musician that he is today, he was one of the top surfers in the world. At the age of 14, this Oahu, North Shore native was surfing the Pipeline and competing in the prestigious Masters tournament, making his name and reputation well-known and well-respected. While recovering from his near fatal wipe out while surfing, Jack focused on his guitar playing and began songwriting and working on his career in cinematography.

Johnson was a film student at the University of California at Santa Barbara when he produced a much-praised surf documentary called Thicker Than Water in 2000. The September Sessions, his next surfing film, earned the Adobe Highlight Award at the ESPN Film Festival that year as well.

Johnson stayed true to his music talents and concentrated on perfecting his unique style--a blend of rock and hip hop—to which G. love & Special Sauce recognized and quickly endorsed. They recorded the song “Rodeo Clowns” for his album Philadelphonic, which became the first single from the album and Jack sang and played on the track.

J.P. Plunier, who has produced all of Ben Harper’s albums, produced Johnson’s Brushfire Fairytales under Enjoy Records in 2001. In May 2003, On and On, Johnson’s second album, was released. Johnson continues to collaborate with Merlo and Adam Topol, as well as Ben Harper and begins touring in February in support of Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals and his new album In Between Dreams, which just dropped in March 2005.

Following a platinum selling album and two Grammy nominations, Jack Johnson worked on an ambitious new project, creating an original soundtrack for the upcoming, Ron Howard produced, Curious George animated film.

Interesting Jack Johnson Facts:

His Influencers: Nick Drake, The Beatles, Hendrix, Tribe Called Quest, Dylan, Ben Harper, Radio Head, G. Love and Special Sauce, Otis Redding, Neil Young, Marley, Kurosawa, Tom Curren…

The 5 CDs that are in his CD player now: Any of the Trojan dub compilations, "Night Nurse" - Gregory Isaacs, "Yoshimi..." - Flamming Lips, "Giant Step" - Taj Mahal, and Mason Jennings." [A PimpWiz.com Exclusive]

Labels: JenniferGeorge