JACK JOHNSON - JOHNSON STARTED MUSIC BEFORE ACCIDENT

Hawaiian singer JACK JOHNSON has laughed off claims a teenage surfing accident made him turn to music, insisting he had musical talent years before the pivotal event. Johnson was a 17-year-old professional surfer when he was badly injured in a freak accident, leaving him with a broken nose, no front teeth and needing 150 stitches. Despite reports he turned to music when he was recovering from his accident, Johnson insists he had been playing the guitar since he was 14. He does admit the accident had a profound psychological effect on him He says, "I went from hero to zero. I had become like an Elephant Man and I had to go to school. It was petty humbling. A year later, I had to have reconstructive surgery because the scar tissue built up so much. "Psychologically, it really did have an effect. I'd been playing for a couple of years but then there were a couple of months that I couldn't surf. I was sitting in my room and my mum was buying me Jimi Hendrix songbooks and I was really focusing on that."