On Sept. 1, famed musician Jimmy Buffett passed away “surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs” after a four-year battle with cancer at the age of 76 years old, according to his website. In honor of the face of beach bums everywhere, let’s take a look back at his illustrious career.
James William Buffett was born on Christmas Day, 1946, in the city of Pascagoula, MS, but would later move to Alabama in his early life. After a relatively normal upbringing, he attended Auburn University, where he picked up guitar in order to meet girls. However, he flunked out shortly after, and continued his education at Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi.
He then briefly moved to New Orleans and began to pursue a music career, playing in clubs and to drunken crowds on Bourbon Street. After that, he moved to Nashville to work as a journalist for Billboard, also working to pursue a career as a country singer. He released the largely unnoticed “Down To Earth” and “High Cumberland Jubilee” albums in the following few years before moving to Key West, FL, and signing a contract with ABC-Dunhill and releasing “A White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean” in 1973, which contained the enduring hit “Why Don’t We Get Drunk.”
He continued to break into the mainstream and garnered a cult following of Hawaiian shirt-wearing, self-described “Parrotheads,” but his breakthrough song “Margaritaville” came in 1977, off of his album “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes,” which became his only song to break the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. This permanently put him in the spotlight as a face of the easy-living, beach bum lifestyle.
Since then, he has released several more albums, including several live albums and a Christmas album named “‘Tis the SeaSon,” with the most recent album “Songs You Don’t Know by Heart” being released in 2020. His 30th studio album was announced to be released in late 2023, under the name “Equal Strain on All Parts,” which he had first heard as a saying from his grandfather, a sailor who had introduced him to the nautical lifestyle that would come to life in his discography.
But Buffett was just as much a businessman as a musician, which allowed him to pass away with a net worth that amassed to over one billion dollars. His business ventures started in 1985, when he opened the Margaritaville store in Key West, and the Margaritaville restaurant opened two years later. Now, there are dozens of restaurants around North America.
He also expanded to owning casinos, retirement communities and resorts. He also partnered with Anheuser-Busch in order to create Landshark Lager, his own beer. Along with this, he partnered with Surterra Holdings Inc. to create his own brand of marijuana, named “Coral Reefer.”
Later in life, he also played several charity concerts, often with prominent faces in country music such as Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith for hurricane relief and environmental conservation, which he was an avid supporter of. He also played at many Democratic rallies and fundraisers in order to draw money and votes for the candidates.
Despite his unfortunate passing, Jimmy Buffett’s life, music and business ventures have ensured that his legacy will last well into the future.
