John Cruz

John Cruz is a Hawaiian singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner whose mastery of slack key guitar and heartfelt vocals have made him one of Hawaii's most beloved musical ambassadors. He grew up in Palolo Valley on Oahu, where he knew from a young age he was destined to play music, with his earliest memories filled with song. His Hawaiian grandmother sang in church, his mom loved Motown, and his dad played country music and taught John to perform live shows at a very young age. Although raised in Hawaii, it wasn't until Cruz moved to the East Coast in 1983 that he developed his own style as a singer-songwriter. During his 12 years in the Northeast, he honed his craft in subways, coffeehouses, and bars in New York's Greenwich Village, as well as in clubs and local haunts from Martha's Vineyard to the Boston area. Returning to Hawaii, Cruz released his first album Acoustic Soul in 1996, which became one of the best-selling Hawaii records of all time, featuring radio hits Shine On, Sitting in Limbo, and Island Style, which won two Na Hoku Awards. His second album One of These Days debuted at number two on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and number six on the Billboard World Chart. In 2005, Cruz won a Grammy Award as part of the compilation CD Slack Key Guitar Volume 2, the first Grammy ever awarded for Hawaiian music. He was named Best Singer Songwriter by Hawaii Magazine in 2008 and won his most recent Na Hoku Award in 2022 for the music video of his song It's Time to Build a Bridge.

Website