Jack Johnsons early life

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.




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). 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.

(Wikipedia)