Jack Hody Johnson (born May 18, 1975)^[1] is a singer-songwriter, surfer, filmmaker^[2] and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a number of EPs and surfing movies/soundtracks. He is also known for organizing an annual event, the Kōkua Festival. He currently has sold 8 million albums worldwide. His highest–selling album is Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George, with 4 million albums shipped worldwide, due to the success of the 2006 Curious George film. He resides in Hawaii.

Johnson was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The son of well-known surfer Jeff Johnson, he took an interest in the sport from a young age - he began surfing at the age of 5. At 17, he became the youngest invitee to make the surfing finals at the Pipeline Masters on Oahu's north shore. One week later, however, his brief stint as a professional surfer ended when he suffered a surfing accident at the Pipeline that put over 150 stitches in his forehead and knocked a few of his teeth out.^[3][4]

Jack Johnson graduated from Kahuku High School on the North Shore of Oahu. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with a degree in film.

While in college, he developed his passion for music, and played rhythm guitar for the party band Soil (not to be confused with the Heavy Metal band Soil).^[3] Johnson credits his songwriting influences as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Otis Redding, G. Love and Special Sauce, Nick Drake, Ben Harper, The Beatles, Bob Marley, Neil Young, and A Tribe Called Quest.^[2]

Johnson's professional career began after befriending G. Love on a day of surfing. G. Love would later record Johnson's song "Rodeo Clowns" for his 1999 album Philadelphonic. Johnson sang and played on the track, and it became the first single from the album.

Johnson then co-directed Thicker Than Water, a documentary surf film released in 2000. He also composed the accompanying soundtrack.

Johnson's four-track music demo soon caught the ear of Ben Harper's producer, J. P. Plunier, who worked with Johnson on his debut album Brushfire Fairytales in early 2001 with Harper and his Weissenborn lap steel guitar making a guest appearance. Brushfire Fairytales was released on February 1, 2001.

In 2002, Johnson, along with his wife Kim and friend Emmett Malloy, created Brushfire Records (originally as The Moonshine Conspiracy Records) to release soundtracks for surf films made by The Moonshine Conspiracy (now Woodshed Films), of which Johnson was a part.

He directed and starred in the surf film The September Sessions, released in December 2002. The soundtrack also featured Johnson.

Johnson went back into the studio with Adam Topol (drums, percussion) and Merlo Podlewski (bass), who played on Brushfire Fairytales, and Mario Caldato Jr on production duties, to record his second full-length album On and On. It was the first album to be recorded at Johnson's Mango Tree Studio in Johnson's home town of North Shore, Oahu, and the first to be released through The Moonshine Conspiracy Records. On and On was released on May 6, 2003. Johnson credits most of his inspiration for this album from childhood friend Andrew Brown