Jack Johnson is paying tribute to one of his oldest friends. The Hawaii-born singer-songwriter’s new documentary SURFILMUSIC — which premiered at SXSW on Friday (March 13) — is dedicated to the memory of Tamayo Perry, the beloved North Shore surfer and lifeguard who died in a shark attack in June 2024.
Johnson and Perry grew up together on the North Shore of Oahu and remained close throughout their lives. In the film, Johnson reflects on learning of Perry’s death and the kind of presence his friend brought to everyone around him.
“When I first heard the news of losing Tamayo, I think that you start trying to remember the last time you hung out, or things that were said or just wondering whether you were able to say goodbye,” Johnson says in the documentary. “Every time you’d be together, he’d give you a big hug and say he loved you and he was so present through his whole life.” Johnson added that their entire friend group “learned how to be a better friend by having him in our life.”
Perry, who was 49 at the time of his death, was a well-respected figure in the Hawaiian surfing world and worked as a professional lifeguard.
He appeared alongside Johnson in his 2000 surf film Thicker Than Water and went on to appear in Hollywood productions including Blue Crush and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Johnson had written on Instagram at the time that he had lost “one of the world’s best storytellers, tube riders, travel companions, uncles, husbands, lifeguards, but most importantly, one of my best friends.”
Directed by Emmett Malloy, SURFILMUSIC traces Johnson’s unlikely path from aspiring surfer and filmmaker to successful recording artist, drawing on rare footage from his early surf films alongside personal and family archives and present-day reflections. The documentary also features interviews with pro surfer Kelly Slater and Johnson’s wife Kim, whom he married in 2000.
Johnson has reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 four times, with Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George (2006), Sleep Through the Static (2008), To the Sea (2010) and From Here to Now to You (2013).
His most recent studio album, Meet the Moonlight, was released in 2022. Johnson will tour in support of the documentary from June through October 2026.
