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Jack Johnson was born 1975 near Haleiwa, on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He was the son of a famous surfer so it was inevitable that Jack would learn from his father how to ride a wave.
Jack Johnson had a promising professional surfing career ahead of him until an accident in which he broke his wrist, had his front teeth knocked out and received more than 150 stitches to his mouth and forehead. While he was recovering in bed, he spent his time writing songs. It wasn’t until much later though that Jack’s life would take another turn into the World of music.
It happened one day while just coming in from the surf with good friend G Love. Jack played a song ‘Rodeo Clowns’ that would later be released on G Loves 1999 album. Little did he know that this song was to get into the hands of one Mr Ben Harper. Ben would later take him under his wing and help record his first album Brushfire Fairy tales, where Ben Harper features on the hit single ‘Flake’.
Through the release of his album and vigorous touring with Ben Harper, Jack Johnson hit stardom status. While he was becoming a household name Jack still kept his laid back, relaxed attitude both on and off the stage. After touring Jack went straight back into the studio and later released On and On. This follow up album followed more of his smooth, mellow surfer rhythms, dipping now and then into some reggae numbers.
His third studio album, In Between Dreams, was released on March 1, 2005 and wouldn’t hit #3 until a year later(as of 21st March 2006). Also released in 2006 was the album Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George. A common feature of Johnson’s music is major chord tonality in his basic chord progressions.
Johnson was featured on the Sublime tribute album ‘Look at All the
Love We Found’, and appeared on the Black Eyed Peas album ‘Monkey Business’ on the track ‘Gone Going’.
In the music video for ‘Sitting, Waiting, Wishing‘, everything happens in reverse. Johnson is pelted with various objects and liquids are dumped over his head, but everything appears to fly away from him as the video plays backward from the way it was filmed. In order to achieve this, Johnson learned to mouth all of the lyrics to the song backwards. The music video for his song ‘Taylor’ features a guest appearance from actor Ben Stiller.
Jack Johnson – Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
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