Jimmy Buffett

James William Buffett was born on December 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and spent portions of his childhood in Mobile and Fairhope, Alabama. His father, James Delaney Buffett, Jr., worked as a marine engineer and sailor for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and his grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, was a steamship captain from Newfoundland. These maritime influences shaped much of Buffett's later artistic identity. He was raised Catholic and educated by Jesuits, serving as an altar boy, and attended St. Ignatius School, where he played trombone in the school band at age eight. He graduated from McGill Institute in 1964. A folk music performance he witnessed in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1961 prompted his decision to pursue music; his first public performance followed a month later at a hootenanny, where he played a Stella guitar.

Buffett enrolled at Auburn University, where a Sigma Pi fraternity brother taught him to play guitar. He left Auburn in April 1966 after failing to balance his coursework with his growing interests in music, then continued his education at Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, earning a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. While at Southern Mississippi he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and worked in a shipyard as an electrician and welder. In 1966, before completing his degree, he played acid rock with a band called the Upstairs Alliance, which modeled its sound on Jefferson Airplane.

After graduating, Buffett relocated to New Orleans, performing street shows for tourists on Decatur Street and playing at the Bayou Room nightclub on Bourbon Street. He moved to Nashville in 1970 to pursue a country music career and found work as an editorial assistant at Billboard, where he was the first to report that the bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs had disbanded. He signed a two-album deal with Barnaby Records and released his debut album, the country-tinged folk rock record Down to Earth, in August 1970, which sold 324 copies. A second album, High Cumberland Jubilee, was recorded in 1971 in Berry Hill, Tennessee, but its masters were allegedly lost by the label; they were recovered in 1976 after Buffett had achieved wider popularity.

In the fall of 1971, Buffett was hired as an opening act at Nashville's Exit/In club for recording artist Dianne Davidson. Dissatisfied with Nashville's business climate and facing the end of his first marriage, he accepted an offer from country singer Jerry Jeff Walker for lodging in Coconut Grove. In November 1971, the two traveled to Key West on a busking trip, and Buffett moved there permanently in the spring of 1972. In Key West he became part of a literary circle that included Thomas McGuane, Jim Harrison, Tom Corcoran, and Truman Capote. He was hired by David Wolkowsky to play for drinks at the Chart Room Bar in the Pier House Motel, where he also met his second wife, and later served as first mate on the yacht of industrialist Foster Talge.

In 1973, Buffett signed with ABC/Dunhill Records, then run by Don Gant. His first release on the label, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, was recorded at Tompall Glaser's Glaser Sound studio on Music Row and released in June 1973, featuring the singles "Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk." Living and Dying in 3/4 Time followed in February 1974 and included "Come Monday," written for his then-girlfriend and future wife, which became his first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. A1A, released in December 1974, contained "A Pirate Looks at Forty," written about a drug smuggler. In 1975, Buffett formed the Coral Reefer Band, which served as the opening act for the Eagles in August of that year. Havana Daydreamin', produced by Don Gant, was released in January 1976.

In January 1977, Buffett released Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, which featured "Margaritaville," a song he claims to have written in roughly six minutes. The Recording Industry Association of America later ranked it 234th on its list of Songs of the Century. Son of a Son of a Sailor followed in March 1978, including "Cheeseburger in Paradise," which reached number 32 on the Hot 100. Volcano, released in August 1979, contained both "Fins" and the title track. In 1983, Buffett filed and won a lawsuit against Chi-Chi's, which had attempted to trademark "Margaritaville" as a drink special. The October 1985 compilation Songs You Know By Heart collected all eight tracks known as "The Big 8": "Margaritaville," "Come Monday," "Fins," "Volcano," "A Pirate Looks at Forty," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Why Don't We Get Drunk," and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes." His other widely recognized recordings include "Son of a Son of a Sailor" (1978), "One Particular Harbour" (1983), and the 2003 collaboration with Alan Jackson, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."

Across a recording career spanning more than three decades, Buffett released over 30 albums, of which eight were certified gold and nine were certified platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA. His total certified worldwide record sales exceeded 20 million. He received two Grammy Award nominations during his lifetime and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category in 2024.

Buffett extended his artistic reach to Broadway as a book writer, contributing to the musical Escape to Margaritaville, which drew on the characters and themes associated with his catalog of songs. The production represented a formal theatrical credit for an artist whose music had long been associated with a particular lifestyle and sensibility.

Beyond music and theater, Buffett built a substantial business portfolio rooted in the "island escapism" identity of his work. His ventures included the Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant chain, the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chain, and investments in hotels, casinos, liquor, and retirement communities. He was also a bestselling author. His estate was estimated at $275 million at the time of his death. His fanbase, known as Parrotheads, maintained a devoted following throughout his career. Buffett died on September 1, 2023.