Facts about Jimmy Buffett
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. Buffett has 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 has 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).
Extra credit
Jimmy Buffett owns a chain of Margaritaville Cafes; in 2016, the chain said it had 30 locations in places like Syracuse, Las Vegas and the Bahamas. He also opened separate Landshark Bar & Grill and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains… Jimmy Buffet’s duet with Alan Jackson, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” hit #1 on the country music charts and won “Vocal Event of the Year” at the 2003 Country Music Awards… Jimmy Buffett earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Southern Mississippi University… He married the former Margie Washichek in 1969; the couple split two years later. He married his second wife, the former Jane Slagsvol, in 1977… According to Jimmy Buffett, the term “Parrotheads” originated as a cheerful takeoff on “Deadheads,” the name given to fans of The Grateful Dead.