![]() ![]() "I really found myself I think as a writer down there. "Key West will always be a part of me," Buffett said in an interview with the Miami Herald in 2022. Author Ernest Hemingway lived there in the 1930s. An island at the far tip of Florida, closer to Cuba than the US mainland, Key West has long had a reputation as a place for artists, misfits, and heavy drinkers. He studied journalism at university and went to Nashville, Tennessee, to work for Billboard Magazine.Īs a student he had begun playing guitar and busking and in Nashville, the home of country music, he released his first record in 1970.īut it was in 1971 when he discovered Key West that he found his calling. James William Buffett was born on Dec 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and grew up in Mobile, Alabama, the son of a well-traveled army engineer and the grandson of a seafaring man who he would later say gave him a lifelong love of the ocean and yearning for adventure. Wearing his trademark Hawaiian shirt, he would often appear on stage with other musicians to do surprise performances. He was friends with mega-rich investor Warren Buffett (no relation) and he owned and flew several private jets.īut he always said that he was at his happiest touring -playing barefoot to crowds large or small and plucking at his guitar. In 2023, Buffett - who had a 28 per cent stake in the Margaritaville Holdings firm - made the Forbes list of billionaires. then you gotta be a businessman, like it or not." He told Forbes in 1994 that "if you're an artist, if you want to have control of your life. ![]() The idea for the Margaritaville brand began in the mid-1980s when Buffett noticed people walking around Key West wearing t-shirts with his (misspelled) name on he responded by opening up a t-shirt store and then added a cafe. US President Joe Biden issued a statement on Saturday on Buffett's passing, calling him a "poet of paradise." It said: "Jimmy reminded us how much the simple things in life matter – the people we love, the places we're from, the hopes we have on the horizon."īuffett released over two dozen albums and played countless concerts over six decades, while the Margaritaville concept exploded into a lifestyle brand that eventually included everything from hotels and restaurants to pool floats and frozen shrimp dishes.įor aging fans - known as Parrotheads - who could not get enough, the first Latitude Margaritaville retirement community opened in Florida in 2018, and others soon followed, promising "food, fun, music and escapism" for the over-55s. Other popular songs - all on a similar sun- and cocktail-drenched theme - included It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. ![]() His breakthrough hit was Margaritaville, a melodic track with a tropical lilt that soon became a mainstay of resort musicians and a vacation favourite of still vaguely hedonistic baby boomers, with its lyrics about "wastin' away" and "nothing to show but this brand new tattoo." In recent months Buffett had canceled shows due to health issues.īuffett, nominated for two Grammy awards and winner of numerous Country Music Awards, built his name touring his folk-country songs around the United States in the 1970s. He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many," a statement on his website said on Saturday (Sept 2). ![]() "Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs. Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the always-on-vacation Margaritaville commercial empire, has died at the age of 76. ![]()
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