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Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023)
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Subject: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Felipa Date: 02 Sep 23 - 06:45 AM the death was announced on BBC Radio Ulster this morning, and via e-mail, I received a link to a NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/arts/jimmy-buffett-dead.html New York Times 2 Sept 2023 Jimmy Buffett, Roguish Bard of Island Escapism, Is Dead at 76 By Bill Friskics-Warren (Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.) Jimmy Buffett, the singer, songwriter, author, sailor and entrepreneur whose roguish brand of island escapism on hits like “Margaritaville” and “Fins” made him something of a latter-day folk hero, especially among his devoted following of so-called Parrot Heads, died Saturday at 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement on Mr. Buffett’s website and social media said. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” Peopled with pirates, smugglers, beach bums and barflies, Mr. Buffett’s genial, self-deprecating songs conjured a world of sun, saltwater and nonstop parties animated by the calypso country-rock of his limber Coral Reefer Band. His live shows abounded with singalong anthems and festive tropical iconography, making him a perennial draw on the summer concert circuit, where he built an ardent fan base akin to the Grateful Dead’s Dead Heads. Mr. Buffett found success primarily with albums. He enjoyed only a few years on the pop singles chart, with “Margaritaville,” his 1977 breakthrough hit and only single to reach the pop Top 10. “I blew out my flip-flop/Stepped on a pop-top/Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,” he sang woozily to the song’s lilting Caribbean rhythms. “But there’s booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.” Mr. Buffett’s music was often described as “Gulf and western,” a nod to his fusion of laid-back twang and island-themed lyrics, as well as a play on the conglomerate name Gulf and Western, the former parent of Paramount Pictures, among other companies. His songs tended to be of two main types: wistful ballads like “Come Monday” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and clever up-tempo numbers like “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Some were both, like “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” a 1978 homage to Mr. Buffett’s seafaring grandfather, written with the producer Norbert Putnam. “I’m just a son of a son, son of a son/ Son of a son of a sailor,” he sang. “The sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains/I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer.” Editors’ Picks Decoding the Complicated Color Wheel of Wines One Last Chance to Be Lazy Overlooked No More: Chick Strand, Pioneering Experimental Filmmaker The Caribbean and the Gulf Coast were Mr. Buffett’s muses, and nowhere more so than Key West in Florida. He first visited the island at the urging of Jerry Jeff Walker, his sometime songwriting and drinking partner, after a gig fell through in Miami in the early ’70s. “When I found Key West and the Caribbean, I wasn’t really successful yet,” Mr. Buffett said in a 1989 interview with The Washington Post. “But I found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.” The locales provided Mr. Buffett with more than just a breezy, sailing life and grist for his songwriting. They were also the impetus for the creation of a tropical-themed business empire that included a restaurant franchise, a hotel chain and boutique tequila, T-shirt and footwear lines, all of which made him a millionaire hundreds of times over. “I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, and I’ve run my share of grass,” Mr. Buffett sang of his early days trafficking marijuana in the Florida Keys in “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” “I made enough money to buy Miami,” he went on, alluding to his subsequent entrepreneurial pursuits. “But I pissed it away so fast/Never meant to last/Never meant to last.” His claim to squandering his wealth notwithstanding, Mr. Buffett proved to be a shrewd manager of his considerable fortune; in 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion. “If Mr. Buffett is a pirate, to borrow one of his favorite images, it is hardly because of his days palling around with dope smugglers in the Caribbean,” the critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in a 1999 essay for The New York Times. “He is a pirate in the way that Bill Gates and Donald Trump have styled themselves, as plundering rebels, visionary artists of the deal, not bound by the societal restrictions meant for smaller, more careful men.” (The comparison to Mr. Trump here is strictly economic; Mr. Buffett was a Democrat.) Mr. Buffett was also an accomplished author, one of only six writers, along with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and William Styron, to top both The Times’s fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists. By the time he wrote “Tales from Margaritaville” (1989), the first of his three No. 1 best sellers, he had abandoned the hedonistic lifestyle he had previously embraced. “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.” “I still have a very happy life,” he went on. “I just don’t do the things I used to do.” James William Buffett was born on Dec. 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Miss., one of three children of Mary Loraine (Peets) and James Delaney Buffett Jr. Both of his parents were longtime employees of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. His father was a manager of government contracts, and his mother, known simply as Peets, was an assistant director of industrial relations. Jimmy was raised Roman Catholic in Mobile, Ala., where he took up the trombone in elementary school, at St. Ignatius Catholic School. He went to high school at another Catholic institution in Mobile, the McGill Institute. In 1964 he enrolled in classes at Auburn University. He flunked out and later attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Biloxi, where he began performing in clubs. He graduated with a degree in history in 1969, before moving to the French Quarter and playing in a cover band on Bourbon Street. In 1970 he moved to Nashville, hoping to make it as a country singer while working as a journalist for Billboard. (Mr. Buffett was credited with having broken the story about the disbanding of the pioneering bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs.) “Down to Earth,” his debut album, was released on Andy Williams’s Barnaby label that year. It sold 324 copies. Mr. Buffett’s second album for Barnaby, “High Cumberland Jubilee,” went unreleased until 1976, long after he had signed with ABC-Dunhill and recorded “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean,” released in 1973 and featuring the debauched party anthem “Why Don’t We Get Drunk.” Mr. Buffett had a fondness for puns, as witnessed by “A White Sport Coat,” an album title inspired by the song “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation),” a 1957 pop-crossover hit for the country singer Marty Robbins. Another album was called “Last Mango in Paris.” Mr. Buffett’s 1974 release “Living and Dying in ¾ Time” included a version of the comedian Lord Buckley’s “God’s Own Drunk.” “Come Monday,” a lovelorn track from the record, became his first Top 40 hit. “A1A” (also from 1974) was named for the oceanfront highway that runs along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. The album was Mr. Buffett’s first to contain references to Key West and maritime life, but it was 1977’s platinum-selling “Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes,” with the blockbuster hit “Margaritaville,” that finally catapulted him to stardom. “Fins,” another major single, was released in 1979. A series of popular releases followed, culminating in 1985 with “Songs You Know By Heart,” a compilation of Mr. Buffett’s most beloved songs to date. The record became the best-selling album of his career. Mr. Buffett also opened the first of his many “Margaritaville” stores in 1985. That was the year that the former Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit, then a member of the Coral Reefer Band, coined the term Parrot Heads to describe Mr. Buffett’s staunch legion of fans, the bulk of whom were baby boomers. A supporter of conservationist causes, Mr. Buffett moved away from the Keys in the late ’70s because of the area’s increasing commercialization. He initially relocated to Aspen, Colo., before making his home on St. Barts in the Caribbean. He also had houses in Palm Beach, Fla., and Sag Harbor, on eastern Long Island. In addition to touring and recording, activities he pursued into the 2020s, Mr. Buffett wrote music for movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Urban Cowboy.” He also appeared in movies and television shows, including “Rancho Deluxe,” “Jurassic World” and the “Hawaii Five-O” revival in the 2010s, where he starred as the helicopter pilot Frank Bama, a character from his best-selling 1992 novel, “Where Is Joe Merchant?” An avid pilot, Mr. Buffett owned several aircraft and often flew himself to his shows. In 1994 he crashed one of his airplanes in waters near Nantucket, Mass., while taking off. He survived the accident, after swimming to safety, with only minor injuries. In 1996 another of Mr. Buffett’s planes, Hemisphere Dancer, was shot at by the Jamaican police, who suspected the craft was being used to smuggle marijuana. On board the airplane, which sustained little damage, were U2’s Bono; Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records; and Mr. Buffett’s wife and two daughters. The Jamaican authorities later admitted the incident was a case of mistaken identity, inspiring Mr. Buffett to write “Jamaica Mistaica,” a droll sendup of the affair. Mr. Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane (Slagsvol) Buffett, two daughters, Savanah Jane Buffett and Sarah “Delaney” Buffett; a son, Cameron Marley Buffett; and two grandsons. Two sisters, Lucy “Lulu” Buffett and Laurie Buffett, also survive him. In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Mr. Buffett was asked about a previous remark in which he somewhat incongruously cited the wholesome choral director Mitch Miller and the marauding Gulf Coast pirate Jean Lafitte as two of his greatest inspirations. “Mitch Miller, for sure,” Mr. Buffett said, doubtless in acknowledgment of the way his own fans sang along with him at concerts. “In the old days: “Sing Along with Mitch?” Who didn’t?” “But Jean Lafitte was my hero as a romantic character,” he continued. “I’m not sure he was a musical influence. His lifestyle influenced me, most definitely, ’cause I’m the very opposite of Mitch Miller.” |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Charmion Date: 02 Sep 23 - 08:18 AM I love Jimmy Buffet. What will become of his satellite radio station, Radio Margaritaville? A reliable source of reggae, ska, rock-steady and other styles influenced by the Island sound, it’s one of my favourite stations for accompanying work, especially long-haul driving. The world is a poorer place without Mr Buffet in it. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Nigel Parsons Date: 02 Sep 23 - 09:08 AM At a moment like this, I can't help But wonder what would Jimmy Buffett do. [Jimmy Buffett] Funny you should ask Alan, I'd say Pour me something tall and strong Make it a hurricane before I go insane It's only half past twelve but I don't care. It's five o'clock somewhere. Yes, I think I'll pour the next pint in tribute. R.I.P. sir! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: gillymor Date: 02 Sep 23 - 09:54 AM I was in Key West one winter in the 80's and heard about a free concert taking place at a local ball field. When we got there it turned out it was Mr. Buffet and his band giving a thank you show for the folks on the island. It was one of the happiest concerts I ever attended with lots of reefer smoke and warm feelings, akin to an early 70's Dead show. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Dave the Gnome Date: 02 Sep 23 - 12:45 PM Awww, that is sad. I shall have a drink in his memory. After all, it is 5 o'clock somewhere! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 02 Sep 23 - 02:14 PM Went to a Jerry Jeff Walker concert at the old Texas Opry House (Houston) back in the 70s. Saw a the saddest looking fellow leaning outside the back door dropping both his crutches and his Zippo trying to light a funny looking cigarette. We lent a hand, literally. Wished him better days ahead and went inside for the show. Never had a clue until he hobbled out on stage later on. RIP James William Buffett (with two t's.) |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Big Al Whittle Date: 02 Sep 23 - 04:04 PM one of Jack Hudson and Doug Porters favourite songwriters. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 02 Sep 23 - 04:56 PM Nice write-up. The comparison to GD is apt. I have known a few "Parrot Heads" and they are a happy lot. There is an enormous stash of pre-written obituaries waiting for the day and the hour. Sincerely, Gargoyle Some scored big in "The Ghoul Pool" on this one. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Jeri Date: 02 Sep 23 - 08:51 PM I had the pleasure of attending "Escape to Margaritaville" at the Ogunquit playhouse a few months ago. It revived a load of Buffet song in my head. He brought a lot of joy to people. Fair winds. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 02:29 AM Hi all, I have to admit I was never truly in the market for what Jimmy had to sell - basically a daydream of sun, beaches, bars and not remembering too well what happened last night - but I can see how it appealed to a lot of people who identified with such a lifestyle, if only in fantasy and while at his concerts - one of which I did attend here in Oz and yes, the enthusiasm was more than enough to carry one along in a stream of general bonhomie, not to say virtual madness on the part of the fans and their Jimmy-centric dress sense... He certainly carved his own niche and was able to make it extremely successful - how many other acoustic troubadours were able to create an empire of a billion dollars (that's right, a billion, not a million) based on their unique slant on things, and not sell out musically along the way. So speed on Jimmy, we will raise a glass to you tonight as we watch you in performance once again via the magic of DVD! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 02:37 AM PS plenty of appreciation (and still coming in) on this new Steve Hoffman Music Forums thread, if interested: R.I.P Jimmy Buffett - Tony |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Rex Date: 03 Sep 23 - 01:25 PM Within all the fun was his own brand of wisdom. "Life Is Just a Tire Swing" |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 07:17 PM I should probably qualify my comment on JB's niche a couple of posts above - in addition to songs celebrating the beach-y lifestyle - which include "Margaritaville" his biggest hit, his chain of restaurants, etc. etc. - JB was a thoughtful songwriter about other topics as well - kinda in the Kris Kristofferson vein. But as others have said elsewhere, without his ascension to be "king of island party music" (for want of a better term), he would most likely have remained just a middle ranking countryish singer songwriter. That is not to decry the value of his better written, non beach lifetyle numbers, which include "Come Monday" and "He went to Paris", both included in the show/s I watched last night courtesy of a DVD of live performances, and both worth a view or listen. - Tony |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 02 Sep 23 - 02:14 PM Went to a Jerry Jeff Walker concert at the old Texas Opry House (Houston) back in the 70s. Saw a the saddest looking fellow leaning outside the back door dropping both his crutches and his Zippo trying to light a funny looking cigarette. We lent a hand, literally. Wished him better days ahead and went inside for the show. Never had a clue until he hobbled out on stage later on. RIP James William Buffett (with two t's.) |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 02 Sep 23 - 04:56 PM Nice write-up. The comparison to GD is apt. I have known a few "Parrot Heads" and they are a happy lot. There is an enormous stash of pre-written obituaries waiting for the day and the hour. Sincerely, Gargoyle Some scored big in "The Ghoul Pool" on this one. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Rex Date: 03 Sep 23 - 01:25 PM Within all the fun was his own brand of wisdom. "Life Is Just a Tire Swing" |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Jeri Date: 02 Sep 23 - 08:51 PM I had the pleasure of attending "Escape to Margaritaville" at the Ogunquit playhouse a few months ago. It revived a load of Buffet song in my head. He brought a lot of joy to people. Fair winds. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Charmion Date: 02 Sep 23 - 08:18 AM I love Jimmy Buffet. What will become of his satellite radio station, Radio Margaritaville? A reliable source of reggae, ska, rock-steady and other styles influenced by the Island sound, it’s one of my favourite stations for accompanying work, especially long-haul driving. The world is a poorer place without Mr Buffet in it. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: gillymor Date: 02 Sep 23 - 09:54 AM I was in Key West one winter in the 80's and heard about a free concert taking place at a local ball field. When we got there it turned out it was Mr. Buffet and his band giving a thank you show for the folks on the island. It was one of the happiest concerts I ever attended with lots of reefer smoke and warm feelings, akin to an early 70's Dead show. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Dave the Gnome Date: 02 Sep 23 - 12:45 PM Awww, that is sad. I shall have a drink in his memory. After all, it is 5 o'clock somewhere! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Nigel Parsons Date: 02 Sep 23 - 09:08 AM At a moment like this, I can't help But wonder what would Jimmy Buffett do. [Jimmy Buffett] Funny you should ask Alan, I'd say Pour me something tall and strong Make it a hurricane before I go insane It's only half past twelve but I don't care. It's five o'clock somewhere. Yes, I think I'll pour the next pint in tribute. R.I.P. sir! |
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Subject: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Felipa Date: 02 Sep 23 - 06:45 AM the death was announced on BBC Radio Ulster this morning, and via e-mail, I received a link to a NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/arts/jimmy-buffett-dead.html New York Times 2 Sept 2023 Jimmy Buffett, Roguish Bard of Island Escapism, Is Dead at 76 By Bill Friskics-Warren (Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.) Jimmy Buffett, the singer, songwriter, author, sailor and entrepreneur whose roguish brand of island escapism on hits like “Margaritaville” and “Fins” made him something of a latter-day folk hero, especially among his devoted following of so-called Parrot Heads, died Saturday at 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement on Mr. Buffett’s website and social media said. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” Peopled with pirates, smugglers, beach bums and barflies, Mr. Buffett’s genial, self-deprecating songs conjured a world of sun, saltwater and nonstop parties animated by the calypso country-rock of his limber Coral Reefer Band. His live shows abounded with singalong anthems and festive tropical iconography, making him a perennial draw on the summer concert circuit, where he built an ardent fan base akin to the Grateful Dead’s Dead Heads. Mr. Buffett found success primarily with albums. He enjoyed only a few years on the pop singles chart, with “Margaritaville,” his 1977 breakthrough hit and only single to reach the pop Top 10. “I blew out my flip-flop/Stepped on a pop-top/Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,” he sang woozily to the song’s lilting Caribbean rhythms. “But there’s booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.” Mr. Buffett’s music was often described as “Gulf and western,” a nod to his fusion of laid-back twang and island-themed lyrics, as well as a play on the conglomerate name Gulf and Western, the former parent of Paramount Pictures, among other companies. His songs tended to be of two main types: wistful ballads like “Come Monday” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and clever up-tempo numbers like “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Some were both, like “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” a 1978 homage to Mr. Buffett’s seafaring grandfather, written with the producer Norbert Putnam. “I’m just a son of a son, son of a son/ Son of a son of a sailor,” he sang. “The sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains/I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer.” Editors’ Picks Decoding the Complicated Color Wheel of Wines One Last Chance to Be Lazy Overlooked No More: Chick Strand, Pioneering Experimental Filmmaker The Caribbean and the Gulf Coast were Mr. Buffett’s muses, and nowhere more so than Key West in Florida. He first visited the island at the urging of Jerry Jeff Walker, his sometime songwriting and drinking partner, after a gig fell through in Miami in the early ’70s. “When I found Key West and the Caribbean, I wasn’t really successful yet,” Mr. Buffett said in a 1989 interview with The Washington Post. “But I found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.” The locales provided Mr. Buffett with more than just a breezy, sailing life and grist for his songwriting. They were also the impetus for the creation of a tropical-themed business empire that included a restaurant franchise, a hotel chain and boutique tequila, T-shirt and footwear lines, all of which made him a millionaire hundreds of times over. “I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, and I’ve run my share of grass,” Mr. Buffett sang of his early days trafficking marijuana in the Florida Keys in “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” “I made enough money to buy Miami,” he went on, alluding to his subsequent entrepreneurial pursuits. “But I pissed it away so fast/Never meant to last/Never meant to last.” His claim to squandering his wealth notwithstanding, Mr. Buffett proved to be a shrewd manager of his considerable fortune; in 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion. “If Mr. Buffett is a pirate, to borrow one of his favorite images, it is hardly because of his days palling around with dope smugglers in the Caribbean,” the critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in a 1999 essay for The New York Times. “He is a pirate in the way that Bill Gates and Donald Trump have styled themselves, as plundering rebels, visionary artists of the deal, not bound by the societal restrictions meant for smaller, more careful men.” (The comparison to Mr. Trump here is strictly economic; Mr. Buffett was a Democrat.) Mr. Buffett was also an accomplished author, one of only six writers, along with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and William Styron, to top both The Times’s fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists. By the time he wrote “Tales from Margaritaville” (1989), the first of his three No. 1 best sellers, he had abandoned the hedonistic lifestyle he had previously embraced. “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.” “I still have a very happy life,” he went on. “I just don’t do the things I used to do.” James William Buffett was born on Dec. 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Miss., one of three children of Mary Loraine (Peets) and James Delaney Buffett Jr. Both of his parents were longtime employees of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. His father was a manager of government contracts, and his mother, known simply as Peets, was an assistant director of industrial relations. Jimmy was raised Roman Catholic in Mobile, Ala., where he took up the trombone in elementary school, at St. Ignatius Catholic School. He went to high school at another Catholic institution in Mobile, the McGill Institute. In 1964 he enrolled in classes at Auburn University. He flunked out and later attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Biloxi, where he began performing in clubs. He graduated with a degree in history in 1969, before moving to the French Quarter and playing in a cover band on Bourbon Street. In 1970 he moved to Nashville, hoping to make it as a country singer while working as a journalist for Billboard. (Mr. Buffett was credited with having broken the story about the disbanding of the pioneering bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs.) “Down to Earth,” his debut album, was released on Andy Williams’s Barnaby label that year. It sold 324 copies. Mr. Buffett’s second album for Barnaby, “High Cumberland Jubilee,” went unreleased until 1976, long after he had signed with ABC-Dunhill and recorded “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean,” released in 1973 and featuring the debauched party anthem “Why Don’t We Get Drunk.” Mr. Buffett had a fondness for puns, as witnessed by “A White Sport Coat,” an album title inspired by the song “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation),” a 1957 pop-crossover hit for the country singer Marty Robbins. Another album was called “Last Mango in Paris.” Mr. Buffett’s 1974 release “Living and Dying in ¾ Time” included a version of the comedian Lord Buckley’s “God’s Own Drunk.” “Come Monday,” a lovelorn track from the record, became his first Top 40 hit. “A1A” (also from 1974) was named for the oceanfront highway that runs along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. The album was Mr. Buffett’s first to contain references to Key West and maritime life, but it was 1977’s platinum-selling “Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes,” with the blockbuster hit “Margaritaville,” that finally catapulted him to stardom. “Fins,” another major single, was released in 1979. A series of popular releases followed, culminating in 1985 with “Songs You Know By Heart,” a compilation of Mr. Buffett’s most beloved songs to date. The record became the best-selling album of his career. Mr. Buffett also opened the first of his many “Margaritaville” stores in 1985. That was the year that the former Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit, then a member of the Coral Reefer Band, coined the term Parrot Heads to describe Mr. Buffett’s staunch legion of fans, the bulk of whom were baby boomers. A supporter of conservationist causes, Mr. Buffett moved away from the Keys in the late ’70s because of the area’s increasing commercialization. He initially relocated to Aspen, Colo., before making his home on St. Barts in the Caribbean. He also had houses in Palm Beach, Fla., and Sag Harbor, on eastern Long Island. In addition to touring and recording, activities he pursued into the 2020s, Mr. Buffett wrote music for movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Urban Cowboy.” He also appeared in movies and television shows, including “Rancho Deluxe,” “Jurassic World” and the “Hawaii Five-O” revival in the 2010s, where he starred as the helicopter pilot Frank Bama, a character from his best-selling 1992 novel, “Where Is Joe Merchant?” An avid pilot, Mr. Buffett owned several aircraft and often flew himself to his shows. In 1994 he crashed one of his airplanes in waters near Nantucket, Mass., while taking off. He survived the accident, after swimming to safety, with only minor injuries. In 1996 another of Mr. Buffett’s planes, Hemisphere Dancer, was shot at by the Jamaican police, who suspected the craft was being used to smuggle marijuana. On board the airplane, which sustained little damage, were U2’s Bono; Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records; and Mr. Buffett’s wife and two daughters. The Jamaican authorities later admitted the incident was a case of mistaken identity, inspiring Mr. Buffett to write “Jamaica Mistaica,” a droll sendup of the affair. Mr. Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane (Slagsvol) Buffett, two daughters, Savanah Jane Buffett and Sarah “Delaney” Buffett; a son, Cameron Marley Buffett; and two grandsons. Two sisters, Lucy “Lulu” Buffett and Laurie Buffett, also survive him. In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Mr. Buffett was asked about a previous remark in which he somewhat incongruously cited the wholesome choral director Mitch Miller and the marauding Gulf Coast pirate Jean Lafitte as two of his greatest inspirations. “Mitch Miller, for sure,” Mr. Buffett said, doubtless in acknowledgment of the way his own fans sang along with him at concerts. “In the old days: “Sing Along with Mitch?” Who didn’t?” “But Jean Lafitte was my hero as a romantic character,” he continued. “I’m not sure he was a musical influence. His lifestyle influenced me, most definitely, ’cause I’m the very opposite of Mitch Miller.” |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1 Sept 2023) From: Big Al Whittle Date: 02 Sep 23 - 04:04 PM one of Jack Hudson and Doug Porters favourite songwriters. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 02:29 AM Hi all, I have to admit I was never truly in the market for what Jimmy had to sell - basically a daydream of sun, beaches, bars and not remembering too well what happened last night - but I can see how it appealed to a lot of people who identified with such a lifestyle, if only in fantasy and while at his concerts - one of which I did attend here in Oz and yes, the enthusiasm was more than enough to carry one along in a stream of general bonhomie, not to say virtual madness on the part of the fans and their Jimmy-centric dress sense... He certainly carved his own niche and was able to make it extremely successful - how many other acoustic troubadours were able to create an empire of a billion dollars (that's right, a billion, not a million) based on their unique slant on things, and not sell out musically along the way. So speed on Jimmy, we will raise a glass to you tonight as we watch you in performance once again via the magic of DVD! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 02:37 AM PS plenty of appreciation (and still coming in) on this new Steve Hoffman Music Forums thread, if interested: R.I.P Jimmy Buffett - Tony |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Jimmy Buffet (1946-2023) From: Tony Rees Date: 03 Sep 23 - 07:17 PM I should probably qualify my comment on JB's niche a couple of posts above - in addition to songs celebrating the beach-y lifestyle - which include "Margaritaville" his biggest hit, his chain of restaurants, etc. etc. - JB was a thoughtful songwriter about other topics as well - kinda in the Kris Kristofferson vein. But as others have said elsewhere, without his ascension to be "king of island party music" (for want of a better term), he would most likely have remained just a middle ranking countryish singer songwriter. That is not to decry the value of his better written, non beach lifetyle numbers, which include "Come Monday" and "He went to Paris", both included in the show/s I watched last night courtesy of a DVD of live performances, and both worth a view or listen. - Tony |
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