Singer/songwriter, surfer, movie maker and all around swell guy Jack Johnson released his debut album "Brushfire Fairytales" today in 2001. Jack learned to play guitar as a youngster but growing up in Hawaii and having a professional surfer as a father made surfing his first love. He turned pro as a teenager but a horrific accident caused Jack to rethink his future.
He headed off to college to study film and played in a local band, rekindling his love of music. He caught a couple of early breaks that helped his career move rather quickly. First, in 1999 he wrote the song "Rodeo Clowns" for G. Love and Special Sauce. Second, his demo tape caught the attention of Ben Harper's producer, JP Plunier.
Plunier produced Jack's debut and brought along Harper to add some slide guitar to the album's first single "Flake". The song cracked the top 100 and helped propel the album to platinum status. He maintained his momentum on his sophomore effort "On and On" as it would reach #3 on the album chart. He has released five more albums since, with four of the five reaching #1 and the other reaching #2. Jack has been nominated for two Grammys and has won multiple ESPN awards for his work on surfing documentaries.