Parrotheads the world over will be pouring out a Pina Colada today, as latter-day folk hero Jimmy Buffet has headed to eat a cheeseburger in paradise.
The singer, songwriter, sailor, and entrepreneur Buffet died on Friday (September 1) aged 76.
The island troubadour’s death was announced on his website and social media pages: “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music, and dogs. He lived his life like a song til the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”
His cause of death was not confirmed. However, this Spring Buffet was forced to reschedule a series of shows after he was hospitalized.
The world of the Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise singer was one of sun, sea, sand, refreshing cocktails, and lazy days drinking at a beachfront bar shaded by palm trees.
Buffet’s brand of laid-back calypso-infused country rock, backed by his Coral Reefer band and tropical iconography, made him a favorite on the summer concert circuit.
Legendary Live Shows
His genial nature and catchy, self-deprecating lyrics resulted in live shows with a party atmosphere packed with singalong anthems, attended by his ardent fans known as Parrotheads.
Though his live shows were legendary, Buffet’s only single to reach the top ten was his 1977 hit Margaritaville.
“I blew out my flip-flop/Stepped on a pop-top/Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,” he sang. “But there’s booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.”
Buffet’s musical style was often called Gulf and Western, a nod to his fusion of laidback lyrics and Caribbean rhythms, with his songs a combination of up-tempo party hits like Cheeseburger in Paradise and wistful ballads like A Pirate Looks at Forty and Come Monday.
Not only were the Gulf Coast, Key West, and the Caribbean Buffet’s muses, but they were his home for a long time. He first visited Key West in the early 70s with songwriting and drinking buddy Jerry Jeff Walker after a gig in Miami fell through.
Speaking to the Washington Post in 1989, Buffett said when he “found Key West and the Caribbean,” he “wasn’t really successful yet,” adding that he “found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.”
As well as a wealth of inspiration for his music, Buffet also created a tropical business empire that included restaurants, hotels, a clothing and footwear line, and even boutique tequila, which made the laidback beach bum a billionaire.
What Does Jimmy Buffett Have in Common With Steinbeck and Hemmingway?
Buffet was also an accomplished writer and topped both the New York Times fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists, which has only ever been accomplished by six authors and put him in the company of Hemingway and Steinbeck.
However, when his chart-topping collection of short stories, Tales From Margaritaville, was released in 1989, Buffet, now in his early 40s, revealed to The Washington Post that the “hard-drinking, hard drugging” part of his life was “over.”
He said: “I could wind up like a lot of my friends did, burned out or dead, or redirect the energy,” he told The Washington Post in 1989. “I’m not old, but I’m getting older. That period of my life is over. It was fun — all that hard drinking, hard drugging. No apologies.”
Adding, “I still have a very happy life; I just don’t do the things I used to do.”
Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on December 25, 1946, James William Buffet was the oldest of three children; both his parents worked for the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company.
Raised Catholic, Jimmy spent his formative years living in Mobile, Alabama, where he attended St. Ignatius Catholic School and then the McGill Institute.
Jimmy Flunked out of college in 1964 before later attending the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a degree in history in 1969. While studying, Buffett also began to perform in local nightclubs before moving to New Orleans to play in a Bourbon Street cover band after he finished college.
Jimmy Buffett’s First Album Was a Flop
Buffet then got a job working for Billboard Magazine before moving to Nashville in hopes of becoming a country singer. His debut album, Down to Earth, reportedly only sold 324 copies.
Buffet scored his first Top 40 hit with the single Come Monday from his third album, Living and Dying in ¾ Time; however, it wasn’t until the release of his seventh album, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes and Margaritaville that he was finally catapulted to stardom.
In 1985, Coral Reefer Band and former Eagles Bassist Timothy B. Schmit coined the term Parrot Head to describe Buffett’s die-hard fans.
Buffet was also an avid conservationist and started the Save the Manatee Club in 1981 with former Florida governor Bob Graham. He was also a supporter and significant donor to the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory.
In July 2010, Buffet put on a free concert on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, in response to the BP oil disaster, where he played popular hits including Fins, Son of a Son of a Sailor, and A Pirate Looks at Forty, as well as modified versions of Margaritaville where changed the chorus to “now I know, it’s all BP’s fault” and When the Coast is Clear singing: “That’s when it always happens / When greed and crude collide.”
Jimmy also wrote music for several movies, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Urban Cowboy, as well as appearing in Rancho Deluxe and Jurassic World. He also starred as Frank Bama, a character from his 1992 novel Where is Joe Merchant? in several episodes of the Hawaii Five-O reboot.
Buffett Was Mistaken for a Drug Smuggler
A seasoned pilot, Buffett owned several aircraft and often flew himself to shows. In 1994, he crashed one of his planes during take off in waters near Nantucket. Fortunately, Buffet only received minor injuries and managed to swim to safety.
In 1996, Buffett’s plane, the Hemisphere Dancer, was fired on by Jamaican police, who suspected it was being used to smuggle marijuana. As well as Buffett, Bono, Chris Blackwell, and Buffett’s wife and their two daughters were on board. The authorities later admitted the incident was a case of mistaken identity. Buffett would later write the song Jamaica Mistaica about the whole fiasco.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1979, James was questioned about previously saying his two greatest influences were Choral director Mitch Miller and notorious Gulf Coast pirate Jean Lafitte.
“Mitch Miller, for sure, In the old days: ‘Sing Along with Mitch’? Who didn’t!?” he exclaimed. “But Jean Lafitte was my hero as a romantic character,” Buffett added. “I’m not sure he was a musical influence. His lifestyle influenced me, most definitely, ’cause I’m the very opposite of Mitch Miller.”
James William Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane, three children, and two grandchildren.
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