Grammy award winning artist and University of Massachusetts Alumna John Cruz is to perform Tuesday night at the Iron Horse in Northampton.

Cruz is currently on tour to promote his second album, “One of These Days,” which was released last September. Debuting at #1 on the Borders Hawaiian Top 10, “One of These Days” is already a local hit.

Born in Hawaii, Cruz moved to the Northeast in 1983 where he spent 12 years developing his style as a performer. Cruz has fond memories of a place that helped bring out a more creative side of him.

“When I lived here, I had access to so many performers and was exposed to so many different styles of music – jazz, folk, funk, rock, everything. The scene in Hawaii is limited, so I was a kid in a candy store. There were no musical boundaries here, so I could explore whatever I wanted without having to think about expectations people at home might have had of me as a Hawaiian musician,” explained Cruz.

Majoring in performing arts at UMass, Cruz became involved with acting and dancing. He believes that his experience in theater helped him deal with the culture shock of coming from Hawaii.

“There was a sense of community, and it gave me a sense of family, both creatively and personally,” he said.

As a member of the New World Theater, he played the lead role in “The Dance and the Railroad,” by Tony Award winning Broadway playwright David Henery Hwang.

After returning to Hawaii in 1995, Cruz gained a fan base by playing bass in his brother’s band, the Ka’au Crater Boys. When his first album, Acoustic Soul, was released, it quickly became a hit.

Self-produced and released on Cruz’s own label, Lilikoi Records, Acoustic Soul sold about 100,000 copies in Hawaii alone. The singles “Shine On,” “Sitting in Limbo” and “Island Style” can still be heard throughout the island in hotels, airports and commercials.

Acoustic Soul also earned Cruz two Na Hoku Hanohano Awards in 1997, one for Contemporary Album of the Year and one for Most Promising Artist.

Cruz’s success continued in 2005 when the compilation album, Slack Key Guitar Volume 2, featuring Cruz’s song “Jo Bo’s Night” won the first Grammy ever awarded for Hawaiian music.

Recorded in Los Angles at good friend Jackson Browne’s studio, the self-produced album, One of These Days, was recorded entirely on analog tape, opposed to digitally, to capture the tone Cruz was seeking. The result is an album that combines warm melodies with passionate, soulful vocals.

Cruz’s music gained him fans in the music industry as well. Trey Anastasio, former front man for Phish, invited Cruz to co-write a song called “A Case of Ice and Snow,” which was released on Anastasio’s solo album, Bar 17. In the winter of 2007, Cruz was alongside Robert Plant and Allison Krauss on the WMVY radio compilation Fresh Produce Volume 4 with his single “Missing You.”

Jack Johnson, also a friend and fan of Cruz’s music, recently invited Cruz to be involved in an interview and photo shoot with him and Rolling Stone Magazine, which will appear in an upcoming issue.

Kelly Slater, world champion surfer, is also a fan and featured three of Cruz’s songs on his 2006 DVD, “Letting Go.” Slater also invited Cruz to play at the Quicksilver Pro surf contest in Hossegor, France, and his MTV special, “The Kelly Slater Celebrity Surf Invitational 2006.”

While he won’t have much time to reminisce about his college years which he claims were, “an inspired time,” where him and his friends, “were all writing songs, drinking cappuccinos at Bonducci’s and smoking imports,” Cruz looks forward to being reunited with old friends on stage and playing a venue which holds a special place in his heart.

“The Iron Horse is a great club and has always been a musical mecca for singer songwriters. I actually helped to renovate it when I lived here in the ’80s, so there is a personal connection as well.”

Doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets for the show are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the door.

Shelby Landeck can be reached at [email protected]