Jimmy Buffett Biography

Jimmy Buffett’s Caribbean-tinged single “Margaritaville” (1977) established him as a cheerful musical advocate for beaches, bars and laid-back living.

Never exactly a dominant figure in pop music, Jimmy Buffett instead proved to be an enduring star in his own tropical niche, strumming wistful, boozy tunes about sailors, dreamers and lowlifes, with titles like “Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

He and his Coral Reefer band toured regularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s and well into the 21st century, playing to crowds of devoted fans known as Parrotheads. (According to Buffett, the term originated as a cheerful takeoff on “Deadheads,” the name given to fans of The Grateful Dead.)

Buffett released more than two dozen albums, including A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973), Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (1977), Son of a Son of a Sailor (1978), Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads (1994), License to Chill (2004) and Songs From St. Somewhere (2013).

Jimmy Buffett also had success as a writer of books, among them the memoir A Pirate Looks at Fifty (1998), the short story collection Tales From Margaritaville (1989) and the whimsical novels Where Is Joe Merchant? (1992) and Swine Not? (2008).

Buffett died in 2023. After his death, a statement on his official website said that he “had been fighting Merkel Cell Skin Cancer for four years. He continued to perform during treatment, playing his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July.”