Of the over 30 albums released by Buffett, eight are certified gold and nine are certified platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA.[16] In total, Buffett sold over 20 million certified records worldwide,[3] placing him amongst the world's best-selling music artists.[17][18][19] In addition to two Grammy Award nominations, Buffett was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category in 2024.[20]
Buffett also parlayed the "island escapism" lifestyle of his music into several business ventures, including Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant chain, the now-defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chain, and ventures in hotels, casinos, liquor, and retirement communities. With a net worth of $1 billion, Buffett was one of the world's richest musicians and celebrities.[21] He was also a bestselling author. His devoted fans are known as "Parrotheads".[22]
As a child, Buffett was exposed to sailing: his grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, was a steamship captain from Newfoundland, and his father was a marine engineer and sailor—these experiences later influenced his music.[29][27] Buffett was educated by Jesuits as a Catholic and served as an altar boy.[30][31]
In 1961, after seeing a folk music ensemble perform in Biloxi, Mississippi, Buffett realized that he wanted to be a musician.[31] His first performance was a month later at a hootenanny, where he played a Stella guitar.[31]
Buffett attended St. Ignatius School, where he played the trombone in the school band at age 8 in the 1950s.[32] Buffett graduated from McGill Institute in 1964.[33][34]
Buffett enrolled at Auburn University and was taught how to play guitar by a Sigma Pifraternity brother to "garner attention from girls".[27][34] Buffett failed out of Auburn after a year, in April 1966, "unable to balance his newfound interests in music and girls with his college classes".[35] In 1966, Buffett played acid rock in a band called the Upstairs Alliance that attempted to emulate the sound of Jefferson Airplane.[31] He continued college at Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. In college, Buffett worked in a shipyard as an electrician and welder.[29] He avoided serving in the Vietnam War due to a college deferment and a failed physical exam.[36]
Buffett signed a two-album contract with Barnaby Records.[39] He released his first album, the country-tinged folk rock record Down to Earth, in August 1970; it sold 324 copies.[11] The masters of his second album, High Cumberland Jubilee, recorded in 1971 in Berry Hill, Tennessee, were allegedly lost by the label before the album was released, although they were found in 1976, once Buffett became popular.[39]
In the fall of 1971, after an impromptu audition, Buffett was hired by the Exit/In, a Nashville club, as the opening act for recording artist Dianne Davidson. Unhappy with the business climate in Nashville and with his first marriage heading for divorce, Buffett took up an offer by fellow country singer Jerry Jeff Walker, whom he had met while working as a journalist in Nashville, for lodging in his house in Coconut Grove. In November 1971, they went to Key West on a busking expedition; Buffett liked it so much that he moved there in the spring of 1972.[3][40] There, Buffett got involved in the literary scene, meeting writers Thomas McGuane (who married Buffett's sister[36]), Jim Harrison, Tom Corcoran, and Truman Capote;[3] sex and drugs were plentiful.[41] Buffett was hired by David Wolkowsky, playing for drinks at the Chart Room Bar in the Pier House Motel.[42] There, Buffett met his second wife.[15] From a connection he made there, Buffett was hired as the first mate on the yacht of industrialist Foster Talge, heir to The Rival Company, which became his day job.[43][44]
Living & Dying in 3/4 Time, recorded in October 1973 and released in February 1974, deviated from the island-theme of Buffett's other albums. It included "Come Monday", written for his then-girlfriend and future wife,[15] his first single to place on the Billboard Hot 100. A1A, released in December 1974, included "A Pirate Looks at Forty", written about a drug smuggler.
Havana Daydreamin', produced by Don Gant, was released in January 1976. In January 1977, Buffett released Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, which, in addition to the title track, featured his breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville".[46] Buffett claims that he wrote most of the song in six minutes.[3] Ironically, while it attempts to negatively portray tourists in Key West, it led to an increase in tourism to the city.[48] That year, Buffett sublet his apartment in Key West to Hunter S. Thompson.[48]
Buffett first traveled to Saint Barthélemy in 1978[29] and moved there shortly thereafter, where he got the inspiration for songs and characters in his books.[49]
In 1983, Buffett filed and won a lawsuit against Chi-Chi's for attempting to trademark "Margaritaville" as a drink special.[51] In October 1985, he released the compilation albumSongs You Know By Heart, which included all of the "Big Eight" songs and was his best selling album, selling over 7 million copies by 2005.[16]
In 1994, Buffett dueted with Frank Sinatra on a cover of "Mack the Knife" on Sinatra's final studio album, Duets II.[52] In 1996, Buffett penned the song "Jamaica Mistaica" for his Banana Wind album based on a January 1996 incident in which Buffett's Grumman HU-16 airplane named Hemisphere Dancer was shot at by Jamaican police, who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana.[53] The aircraft sustained minimal damage. The plane was carrying Buffett as well as Bono of U2, Bono's wife and two children, Island Records producer Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized to Buffett.[53]
By 1999, Buffett had shifted to a more relaxed concert schedule of around 20–30 dates per year, with infrequent back-to-back nights, preferring to play only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This schedule provided the title of his 1999 live album.[56]
Buffett's album License to Chill, released on July 13, 2004, sold 238,500 copies in its first week of release according to Nielsen Soundscan. With the album, Buffett topped the U.S. pop albums chart for the first time in his career.[60]
In August 2006, Buffett released the album Take the Weather with You, which hit number 1 on the country chart.[63] The album included "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On", written in honor of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.[64]
In August 2007, Buffett was nominated at the Country Music Association Awards for the Event of the Year Award for his song "Hey Good Lookin'" which also features Alan Jackson and George Strait.[65] Also in August 2007, Buffett received a star on the Mohegan Sun Walk of Fame.[66]
Buffett performing in January 2008
In April 2010, a double CD of performances recorded during the 2008 and 2009 tours called Encores was released exclusively at Walmart, Walmart.com, and Margaritaville.com.[67]
In 2010, Buffett was named the tenth biggest touring artist of the decade, with 4.5 million ticket sales over the previous 10 years.[48]
In 2020, Buffett released Songs You Don't Know by Heart, a fan-curated collection of his lesser-known songs rerecorded on his collection of notable guitars.[70]
Equal Strain on All Parts was released posthumously in November 2023. Buffett got the idea for the album title from his grandfather's description of a nap.[74][75]
Buffett's music combined country, rock, folk, calypso, and pop music with coastal as well as tropical lyrical themes for a sound sometimes called "gulf and western" or tropical rock.[2]
Buffett called his music "drunken Caribbean rock 'n' roll".[77]
"It's pure escapism is all it is...I'm not the first one to do it, nor shall I probably be the last. But I think it's really a part of the human condition that you've got to have some fun. You've got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out. I try to make it at least 50/50 fun to work and so far it's worked out." -Jimmy Buffett[78]
In 1989, a music critic in The Washington Post described Buffett's music as a combination of "tropical languor with country funkiness into what some [have] called the Key West sound, or Gulf-and-western."[79] The name "Gulf-and-western" derives from elements in Buffett's early music including musical influence from country, along with lyrical themes from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It is a play on the form of "Country & Western" and Gulf+Western is the former parent company of Paramount Pictures.
Parrot Head or parrothead is a commonly used nickname for Buffett fans, with "parakeets" or "keets" used for younger fans, or children of Parrotheads. At a 1985 Jimmy Buffett concert at the Timberwolf Amphitheater at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, Buffett commented about everyone wearing Hawaiian shirts and parrot hats and how they kept coming back to see his shows, just like Deadheads. Timothy B. Schmit, then a member of the Coral Reefer Band, coined the term "Parrot Head" to describe them.[81][82] In 1989, the first Parrothead club was founded in Atlanta.[83] The annual Meeting of the Minds in Key West, Florida is a five-day festival held after Fantasy Fest that attracts approximately 5,000 Parrotheads.[84] The Pikes Peak Hash House Harriers and Harriettes have an annual Parrot Head Hash weekend hosted by Yeastee Boy and Bread Box. Buffett's fanbase is composed mostly of baby boomers.[22] His concerts were known for tailgate parties and alcohol consumption.[3]
Buffett also co-wrote two children's books, The Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls, with his eldest daughter, Savannah Buffett. The original hardcover release of The Jolly Mon included a cassette tape recording of the two reading the story accompanied by an original score written by Michael Utley.[86][87]
Buffett's novel A Salty Piece of Land was released on November 30, 2004, and the first edition of the book included a CD single of the song "A Salty Piece of Land." The book was a New York Times best seller soon after its release.[88]
Buffett's last title, Swine Not?, was released on May 13, 2008.[89]
Film and television
Soundtracks
Buffett wrote the soundtrack for, co-produced, and played a role in, the 2006 film Hoot, directed by Wil Shriner and based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, which focused on issues important to Buffett, such as conservation.[90] The film was not a critical or commercial success.[90]
Buffett portrayed helicopter pilot Frank Bama in seven episodes of the 2010 reboot of Hawaii Five-0, in 2011, April 2013, March 2015, January 2017, March 2018, May 2019, and March 2020.[99]
Buffett made a cameo in the 2015 film Jurassic World, where he is seen holding two margaritas while the dinosaurs are set loose in the park.[100]
In 2017, Buffett was the musical guest on the NCIS: New Orleans episode "Rogue Nation", playing the song "I Will Play for Gumbo" in Dwayne Pride's (Scott Bakula) newly rebuilt bar.[101] His final TV appearance saw him busking the same tune on a New Orleans sidewalk to Beth (Amy Schumer) and her fiancée in the 2024 Life and Beth episode "Who Dat?"[102]
Buffett portrayed both himself and a con artist by the name of Dickie Delaney, who pretended to be the famous singer in order to pull off schemes and trick unsuspecting marks on Season 12, Episode 11 of Blue Bloods.
Theater
In 1994, Buffett began developing a musical based on Herman Wouk's 1965 novel, Don't Stop the Carnival. Buffett wrote the music and lyrics and Wouk wrote the book for the show. Don't Stop the Carnival debuted in Miami, Florida, in 1997 to negative reviews from critics.[104] The show ran only for six weeks in Miami.[105]
Escape to Margaritaville, a musical, ran at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego from May 2017 to July 2017. The show then performed limited runs in New Orleans, Houston, and Chicago, and was well received by critics. The show features a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley and uses Buffett's classic songs, some of which he rewrote the lyrics to in order to better fit in the context of the story. The show began previews at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway on February 16, 2018, and officially opened on March 15 under the direction of Tony winner Christopher Ashley. The Broadway production received mixed reviews from New York critics and closed on July 1 after 29 previews and 124 regular performances. A national tour launched in Providence, Rhode Island, in the fall of 2019.[106]
Buffett took advantage of the tropical "island escapism" lifestyle that fans of his music sought by launching several business ventures to sell this lifestyle to his fans.[107][106]
Through his Margaritaville brand, Buffett licensed hotels, casinos, cruise experiences, restaurants and bars, packaged foods, beverages, spirits, outdoor furniture, home goods, appliances, and apparel and accessories.[108]
Restaurants
In 1984, Buffett and a friend opened a T-shirt shop in Gulf Shores, Alabama.[36] After it failed, in 1985, they tried again in Key West, expanding it to what became Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in 1987.[2] The chain opened restaurants under the Margaritaville and LandShark Bar & Grill names in locations including Atlantic City, New Orleans, Nashville, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Las Vegas, Jamaica, Orlando, Baltimore,[109] and the Cayman Islands.[110] The Margaritaville cafe on the Las Vegas strip was possibly the highest grossing restaurant in the U.S.[111]
In 1992, Buffett launched Margaritaville Records, with distribution through MCA Records.[113] His MCA record deal ended in 1996. In 1999, he started Mailboat Records to release live albums.[114]
Beer
Buffett sought and received a concert sponsorship from Corona; the partnership was credited for increasing sales of the brand.[3] After deciding that he wanted his own beer brand, Buffett partnered with Anheuser-Busch in 2006 to brew Landshark Lager, now one of the Anheuser-Busch brands.[110]
Casinos
In 2013, Buffett partnered with the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to open the $35 million Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville-themed entertainment complex at the hotel, which included a Margaritaville Restaurant with a giant blender and tiki bar, a Landshark Bar and Grill, the 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar, a coffee shop, a retail store, and a gaming area with 12 Margaritaville-themed table games and 160 slot machines.[115][116]
From May 8, 2009, through January 5, 2010, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins, now called Hard Rock Stadium, was named LandShark Stadium pursuant to an eight-month naming rights deal.[119] Buffett also wrote new lyrics for the team to his 1979 song "Fins", which is played during Dolphins home games.[120]
In 2012, a "Margaritaville Online" game was released by THQ for Facebook.[123] The game was discontinued two years later.[123] In 2016, Buffett partnered with FunPlus to develop a new Margaritaville game.[123]
In the 1980s, Buffett became friends with Warren Buffett and a shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway, increasing his stake over the years. They called each other "Cousin Jimmy" and "Uncle Warren" though they were not related.[112]
Buffett married Margie Washichek in 1969; they divorced in 1972.[144] Buffett met his second wife, Jane (née Slagsvol), then a student at the University of South Carolina, at the Chart Room bar while she was visiting Key West on spring break; she never returned to the university. They were married in 1977 in Aspen, Colorado. The Eagles, for whom Buffett was the opening act in 1975, played at their wedding.[36][47] The couple had two daughters, radio personality Savannah Buffett (born 1979) and filmmaker Sarah Delaney (born 1992), and an adopted son, Cameron Marley (born 1994).[15][145] They split in the early 1980s due to their partying lifestyle but reconciled in 1991 after she became sober.[15]
Buffett resided in a waterfront estate in Sag Harbor, New York. In September 1998, he sold his properties in Key West for $900,000.[146] In 2010, Buffett sold his house in Palm Beach, Florida, to Jon Stryker for $18.5 million; he had bought the house in 1994 for $4.4 million. At that time, he also owned a 2-unit property in the area, which he purchased in 2002 for $802,000.[147] In 2013, Buffett purchased another house in Palm Beach, with 3,100 square feet, for $1.3 million.[148] In April 2014, he bought a 4,322 square foot house in Beverly Hills, California for $8.25 million.[149] In 2020, Buffett sold a 4,783-square-foot house in Palm Beach for $6.9 million; he paid $4.95 million for it in 2011.[150] Buffett also owned a home in Saint Barthélemy, where he lived on and off in the early 1980s. There, Buffett was part owner of the Autour de Rocher hotel and restaurant. It burned down.[49] He also owned an apartment in the Deutsche Bank Center in New York City.[106]
On February 4, 2001, Buffett was ejected from the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami during a basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks for cursing.[156] The referee who ejected Buffett apparently did not know who he was, and got upset at Heat coach Pat Riley because he thought Riley—who was trying to explain to him who Buffett was—was insulting him by asking if he had ever been a "Parrothead", the nickname for Buffett fans.[157]
On October 6, 2006, Buffett was detained by French customs officials in Saint Tropez for allegedly carrying over 100 pills of ecstasy. Buffett's luggage was searched after his Dassault Falcon 900 private jet landed at Toulon-Hyères International Airport. He paid a fine of $300 and was released. A spokesperson for Buffett stated the pills in question were prescription drugs but declined to name the drug or the health problem for which he was being treated. Buffett released a statement that the "ecstasy" was in fact a B-vitamin supplement known as Foltx.[158][159][160]
At a performance by Buffett on January 26, 2011 (Australia Day) at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, he fell off the stage after an encore and lost consciousness.[161][162] Coincidentally, Gordian Fulde, a trauma surgeon, was at the concert and close to the stage; Fulde treated Buffett at the scene.[161][163][164][165] Buffett regained consciousness within a few minutes, and was then transported to St. Vincent's Hospital Emergency Centre for treatment and was discharged the next day.[161] Buffett returned to Australia in 2012 for two shows in Brisbane and Melbourne, and made fun of the incident during those shows.[166]
By 2017, Buffett's diet did not include sugar or carbohydrates, except on Sundays, and he no longer smoked marijuana.[106]
Buffett was raised Catholic, although he did not practice the religion later in life.[30]
Illness and death
In May 2023, Buffett was hospitalized to "address some issues that needed immediate attention" and rescheduled tour dates.[171] In late August, he entered hospice care[172] and had a final meeting with family and friends.[173]
Buffett died on September 1, 2023, at age 76, at his home in Sag Harbor, New York, due to complications from Merkel-cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer, with which he had been diagnosed four years earlier. Prior to his death, Buffett had kept his illness private and continued to tour while undergoing treatment.[3][38]
In 2015, Buffett spoke at the University of Miami's graduation ceremony and received an honorary doctorate in music. Wearing aviator sunglasses, he told graduates, from a line in his song "The Pascagoula Run", that "it's time to see the world, time to kiss a girl, and time to cross the wild meridian."[177] Also in 2015, Buffett's hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi named a bridge after him in his honor, Buffett Bridge.[178]
In 2024, the Florida legislature declared August 30 Jimmy Buffett Day, renamed State Road A1A as the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, and issued a commemorative Florida and Margaritaville-themed license plate, to benefit Buffett's charity SFC Charitable Foundation Inc., also known as Singing for Change.[180]
The City of Hattiesburg unveiled their 57th mural in October 2024, titled "Parrots in Paradise." The mural is on Hardy Street and was painted by Gulfport artist Lucinda L'Enfant.
[181] In 2024, Jimmy Buffett was entered into the 39th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The honor was bestowed by musician James Taylor, who also sang Buffet's 1974 hit "Come Monday" along with musician Kenny Chesney and Buffet's long-time Coral Reefer Band member, Mac McAnally.
^Malone, Bill C., ed. (2014). "Buffett, Jimmy". The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Vol. 12. UNC Press Books. p. 192. ISBN9781469616667. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
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