North Shore singer-songwriter Jack Johnson has been nominated for two Grammy awards — the first for a Hawai'i born-and-raised male musician in the categories of best male pop vocal performance and best pop collaboration with vocals.

Johnson's nomination for best male pop vocal performance came for the track "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" from his million-plus selling CD "In Between Dreams." That puts him in competition with some of the biggest pop stars in the business. In descending order of notoriety, that would be Paul McCartney ("Fine Line"), Stevie Wonder ("From the Bottom of My Heart"), Rob Thomas ("Lonely No More") and Seal ("Walk On By").

"It's crazy. I can't believe it," Johnson said yesterday from his North Shore home. "It's definitely something that I never in my wildest dreams expected. It's flattering and a real honor."

The Hawai'i artist's nomination for best pop collaboration with vocals is for "Gone Going," which teamed him with Black Eyed Peas. The track is from Black Eyed Peas' CD "Monkey Business." In that category, he and the Peas are taking on Foo Fighters & Norah Jones ("Virginia Moon"), Gorillaz & De La Soul ("Feel Good Inc."), Herbie Hancock & Christina Aguilera ("A Song For You") and Stevie Wonder & India.Arie ("A Time To Love").

Johnson said he wasn't aware Grammy nominations were being announced yesterday, nor did he imagine getting one. A friend called in the morning and gave him the good news.

"He knows my style, so the first thing he was joking about was asking me if I had a suit or not," said Johnson, laughing.

He does, along with new shoes to go with it — both bought this summer for his brother-in-law's wedding. Naturally, Johnson went out surfing after taking the call.

"It's kind of nice for me because this is definitely the biggest recognition I've ever gotten for music," said Johnson, of the nominations. "And to have it on my third record, I think, makes it feel like I've earned it a little more."

Hawai'i artists have been nominated for categories outside of the best Hawaiian music album award before.

Honolulu-raised Bette Midler has won three Grammys: best new artist (1973), best female pop vocal performance for "The Rose" (1980) and record of the year for "Wind Beneath My Wings" (1989). Midler also has received multiple Grammy nominations over the years.

St. Louis High School grad Dean Pitchford was nominated for best album of original score written for a motion picture or television special for co-writing music from "Fame" (1980) and "Footloose" (1984).

Matt Catingub and the Honolulu Symphony Pops were nominated along with Rosemary Clooney for a best traditional pop vocal album Grammy for the live recording "Last Concert" in 2003.

The multi-artist compilation "Island Warriors" featuring O-Shen, Fiji, B.E.T., Natural Vibrations and other local acts received a reggae album of the year nomination in 2001.

Yvonne Elliman was part of a collective of artists contributing to the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack's 1978 win for album of the year.

"It's nice for me to know I get to keep on doing this for a little bit," said Johnson. "I guess this means that, hopefully, I'll get to put out another record after this."

"I just hope this means I get to meet Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. If nothing else, I hope I get that out of this deal."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.