James William Buffett (December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter.^[10] He was known for his tropical rock sound and persona,^[2] which often portrayed a lifestyle described as "island escapism"^[11] and promoted enjoying life and following passions.^[12] Buffett recorded many hit songs, including those known as "The Big 8":^[13] "Margaritaville" (1977), which is ranked 234th on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of "Songs of the Century"; "Come Monday" (1974); "Fins" (1979); "Volcano" (1979); "A Pirate Looks at Forty" (1974); "Cheeseburger in Paradise" (1978); "Why Don't We Get Drunk" (1973); and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" (1977). His other popular songs include "Son of a Son of a Sailor" (1978), "One Particular Harbour" (1983), and "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" with Alan Jackson (2003).^[14] Buffett formed the Coral Reefer Band in 1975.^[15]

Of the over 30 albums released by Buffett, eight are certified gold and nine are certified platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA.^[16] In total, Buffett sold over 20 million certified records worldwide,^[3] placing him amongst the world's best-selling music artists.^[17][18][19] In addition to two Grammy Award nominations, Buffett will be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category in 2024.^[20]

Buffett also parlayed the "island escapism" lifestyle of his music into several business ventures, including Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant chain, the now-defunct Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chain, and ventures in hotels, casinos, liquor, and retirement communities. Buffett was one of the world's richest musicians, with a net worth of $1 billion.^[21] He was also a bestselling author. His devoted fan base, composed mostly of baby boomers, are known as "Parrotheads".^[22]

Buffett was born on December 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi,^[23] and spent part of his childhood in Mobile and Fairhope, Alabama. He was the son of Mary Lorraine (née Peets) (died September 25, 2003)^[24] and James Delaney Buffett, Jr. (died May 1, 2003) who worked for the United States Army Corps of Engineers.^[25][26][27] He has two younger sisters, Laurie (born 1948) and Lucy (born 1953).^[11][28]

As a child, Buffett was exposed to sailing; his grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, was a steamship captain from Newfoundland and his father was a marine engineer and sailor - these experiences later influenced his music.^[29][27] Buffett was educated by Jesuits as a Catholic and served as an altar boy.^[30][31]

In 1961, after seeing a folk music ensemble perform in Biloxi, Mississippi, Buffett realized that he wanted to be a musician.^[31] His first performance was a month later at a hootenanny, where he played a Stella guitar.^[31]

Buffett attended St. Ignatius School, where he played the trombone in the school band.^[32] Buffett graduated from McGill Institute in 1964.^[33][34]

Buffett enrolled at Auburn University and was taught how to play guitar by a Sigma Pi fraternity brother to "garner attention from girls".^[27][34] Buffett failed out of Auburn after a year, in April 1966, "unable to balance his newfound interests in music and girls with his college classes".^[35] In 1966, Buffett played acid rock in a band called the Upstairs Alliance that was trying to sound like Jefferson Airplane.^[31] He continued college at Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and got a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. In college, Buffett worked in a shipyard as an electrician and welder.^[29] He avoided serving in the Vietnam War due to a college deferment and a failed physical exam.^[36]

After graduating in 1969, Buffett moved to New Orleans and often held street performances for tourists on Decatur Street and played for drunken crowds in the former Bayou Room nightclub on Bourbon Street.^[37][11] In 1970, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further his country music career. Buffett did not have much luck with music jobs but got a job working as an editorial assistant for Billboard, where he was the first to report that the bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs had disbanded.^[38][11][31]

Buffett signed a two-album contract with Barnaby Records.^[39] He released his first album, the country-tinged folk rock record Down to Earth, in August 1970; it sold 324 copies.^[11] The masters of his second album, High Cumberland Jubilee, recorded in 1971 in Berry Hill, Tennessee, were allegedly lost by the label before the album was released, although they were found in 1976, once Buffett became popular.^[39]

In the fall of 1971, after an impromptu audition, Buffett was hired by the Exit/In, a Nashville club, as the opening act for recording artist Dianne Davidson. Unhappy with the business climate in Nashville and with his first marriage heading for divorce, Buffett took up an offer by fellow country singer Jerry Jeff Walker, whom he had met while working as a journalist in Nashville, for lodging in his house in Coconut Grove. In November 1971, they went to Key West on a busking expedition; Buffett liked it so much that he moved there in the spring of 1972.^[3][40] There, Buffett got involved in the literary scene, meeting writers Thomas McGuane (who married Buffett's sister^[36]), Jim Harrison, Tom Corcoran, and Truman Capote;^[3] sex and drugs were plentiful.^[41] Buffett was hired by David Wolkowsky, playing for drinks at the Chart Room Bar in the Pier House Motel.^[42] There, Buffett met his second wife.^[15] From a connection he made there, Buffett was hired as the first mate on the yacht of industrialist Foster Talge, heir to The Rival Company, which became his day job.^[43][44]

In 1973, Buffett signed a recording contract with ABC/Dunhill Records, then run by Don Gant. After Jim Croce died in a plane crash in September 1973, Dunhill promoted Buffett as a replacement.^[45]

Buffett's second release and his first release on ABC/Dunhill Records was A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, recorded at Tompall Glaser's studio on Music Row and released in June 1973.^[46] The album featured the hit singles "Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit" and "Why Don't We Get Drunk" as well as "I Have Found Me a Home", written about his experiences in Key West.^[46] Buffett used the money he made from the album to buy his first boat.^[29]

Living & Dying in 3/4 Time, recorded in October 1973 and released in February 1974, deviated from the island-theme of Buffett's other albums. It included "Come Monday", written for his then-girlfriend and future wife,^[15] his first single to place on the Billboard Hot 100. A1A, released in December 1974, included "A Pirate Looks at Forty", written about a drug smuggler.

In 1975, Buffett formed the Coral Reefer Band.^[15] He credits his future wife for cleaning up their look, replacing their ripped Levi jeans and collarless shirts.^[15] The band was the opening act for the Eagles in August 1975.^[47]

Havana Daydreamin', produced by Don Gant, was released in January 1976. In January 1977, Buffett released Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, which, in addition to the title track, featured his breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville".^[46] Buffett claims that he wrote most of the song in six minutes.^[3] Ironically, while it attempts to negatively portray tourists in Key West, it led to an increase in tourism to the city.^[48] That year, Buffett sublet his apartment in Key West to Hunter S. Thompson.^[48]

Buffett first traveled to Saint Barthélemy in 1978^[29] and moved there shortly thereafter, where he got the inspiration for songs and characters in his books.^[49]

In March 1978, Buffett released Son of a Son of a Sailor. In addition to the title track, it featured "Cheeseburger in Paradise", which reached number 32 on the Hot 100.^[38] In August 1979, he released Volcano, which included "Fins" and the title track.^[50]

In 1983, Buffett filed and won a lawsuit against Chi-Chi's for attempting to trademark "Margaritaville" as a drink special.^[51] In October 1985, he released the compilation album Songs You Know By Heart, which included all of the "Big Eight" songs and was his best selling album, selling over 7 million copies by 2005.^[16]

In 1994, Buffett dueted with Frank Sinatra on a cover of "Mack the Knife" on Sinatra's final studio album, Duets II.^[52] In 1996, Buffett penned the song "Jamaica Mistaica" for his Banana Wind album based on a January 1996 incident in which Buffett's Grumman HU-16 airplane named Hemisphere Dancer was shot at by Jamaican police, who believed the craft to be smuggling marijuana.^[53] The aircraft sustained minimal damage. The plane was carrying Buffett, as well as Bono of U2, his wife, and two children, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell, and co-pilot Bill Dindy. The Jamaican government acknowledged the mistake and apologized to Buffett.^[53]

In April 1998, Buffett released an album of songs from a musical theatre production he co-created based on Herman Wouk's novel, Don't Stop the Carnival; was certified gold. After Frank Sinatra died the following month, he attended his funeral.^[16] Buffett's song "Math Suks", released in May 1999, was condemned by the U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Education Association for its alleged negative effect on children's education.^[54] Comedian Jon Stewart also jokingly criticized the song on The Daily Show during a segment called "Math Is Quite Pleasant".^[55]

By 1999, Buffett had shifted to a more relaxed concert schedule of around 20–30 dates per year, with infrequent back-to-back nights, preferring to play only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This schedule provided the title of his 1999 live album.^[56]

In 2003, Buffett partnered in a partial duet with Alan Jackson for the song "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere", which spent a then record eight weeks atop the Hot Country Songs charts.^[57][58] This song won the 2003 Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year, Buffett's first award in his 30-year recording career.^[59]

Buffett's album License to Chill, released on July 13, 2004, sold 238,500 copies in its first week of release according to Nielsen Soundscan. With the album, Buffett topped the U.S. pop albums chart for the first time in his career.^[60]

In May 2005, Buffett signed an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio to broadcast Radio Margaritaville, which, from its founding in 1998, was broadcast only online.^[61][62] The channel broadcasts from the Margaritaville Resort Orlando in Kissimmee, Florida.

In August 2006, Buffett released the album Take the Weather with You, which hit number 1 on the country chart.^[63] The album included "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On", written in honor of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.^[64]

In August 2007, Buffett was nominated at the Country Music Association Awards for the Event of the Year Award for his song "Hey Good Lookin'" which also features Alan Jackson and George Strait.^[65] Also in August 2007, Buffett received a star on the Mohegan Sun Walk of Fame.^[66]

In April 2010, a double CD of performances recorded during the 2008 and 2009 tours called Encores was released exclusively at Walmart, Walmart.com, and Margaritaville.com.^[67]

In 2010, Buffett was named the tenth biggest touring artist of the decade, with 4.5 million ticket sales over the previous 10 years.^[48]

Since Wyatt Durrette, co-writer of the song "Knee Deep", was a fan of Buffett's, Buffett partnered on the song with the Zac Brown Band, which was released on Brown's 2010 album You Get What You Give.^[68] The single was certified platinum in September 2017.^[16]

In November 2011, Buffett voiced Huckleberry Finn on Mark Twain: Words & Music, a benefit for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, which was released on Mailboat Records.^[69]

In August 2013, Buffett released Songs from St. Somewhere; many of the songs were recorded at Eden Rock, St Barths.^[49]

In 2020, Buffett released Songs You Don't Know by Heart, a fan-curated collection of his lesser-known songs rerecorded on his collection of notable guitars.^[70]

Buffett performed his final full concert at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on May 6, 2023.^[71] He made two further concert appearances, as an unannounced guest at concerts by Coral Reefer Band members, in Amagansett, New York, on June 11 and in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on July 2, his final live performance before his death.^[71][72][73]

Equal Strain on All Parts was released posthumously in November 2023. Buffett got the idea for the album title from his grandfather's description of a nap.^[74][75]

Buffett was posthumously selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 in the musical excellence category.^[76][20]

Buffett wrote three books, all of which placed on The New York Times Best Seller list. Tales from Margaritaville and Where Is Joe Merchant? both spent over seven months on The New York Times Best Seller fiction list. His memoir A Pirate Looks at Fifty, published in 1998, went straight to number one on the New York Times Best Seller nonfiction list, making him one of the few authors to have reached number one on both the fiction and nonfiction lists.^[85]

Buffett also co-wrote two children's books, The Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls, with his eldest daughter, Savannah Buffett. The original hardcover release of The Jolly Mon included a cassette tape recording of the two reading the story accompanied by an original score written by Michael Utley.^[86][87]

Buffett's novel A Salty Piece of Land was released on November 30, 2004, and the first edition of the book included a CD single of the song "A Salty Piece of Land." The book was a New York Times best seller soon after its release.^[88]

Buffett's last title, Swine Not?, was released on May 13, 2008.^[89]

In 1994, Buffett began developing a musical based on Herman Wouk's 1965 novel, Don't Stop the Carnival. Buffett wrote the music and lyrics and Wouk wrote the book for the show. Don't Stop the Carnival debuted in Miami, Florida, in 1997 to negative reviews from critics.^[104] The show ran only for six weeks in Miami.^[105]

Escape to Margaritaville, a musical, ran at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego from May 2017 to July 2017. The show then performed limited runs in New Orleans, Houston, and Chicago, and was well received by critics. The show features a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley and uses Buffett's classic songs, some of which he rewrote the lyrics to in order to better fit in the context of the story. The show began previews at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway on February 16, 2018, and officially opened on March 15 under the direction of Tony winner Christopher Ashley. The Broadway production received mixed reviews from New York critics and closed on July 1 after 29 previews and 124 regular performances. A national tour launched in Providence, Rhode Island, in the fall of 2019.^[106]

Buffett took advantage of the tropical "island escapism" lifestyle that fans of his music sought by launching several business ventures to sell this lifestyle to his fans.^[107][106]

Through his Margaritaville brand, Buffett licensed hotels, casinos, cruise experiences, restaurants and bars, packaged foods, beverages, spirits, outdoor furniture, home goods, appliances, and apparel and accessories.^[108]

Buffett married Margie Washichek in 1969; they divorced in 1972.^[144] Buffett met his second wife, Jane (née Slagsvol), then a student at the University of South Carolina, at the Chart Room bar while she was visiting Key West on spring break; she never returned to the university. They were married in 1977 in Aspen, Colorado. The Eagles, for whom Buffett was the opening act in 1975, played at their wedding.^[36][47] The couple had two daughters, radio personality Savannah Buffett (born 1979) and filmmaker Sarah Delaney (born 1992), and an adopted son, Cameron Marley (born 1994).^[15][145] They split in the early 1980s due to their partying lifestyle but reconciled in 1991 after she got sober.^[15]

Buffett resided in a waterfront estate in Sag Harbor, New York. In September 1998, he sold his properties in Key West for $900,000.^[146] In 2010, Buffett sold his house in Palm Beach, Florida, to Jon Stryker for $18.5 million; he had bought the house in 1994 for $4.4 million. At that time, he also owned a 2-unit property in the area, which he purchased in 2002 for $802,000.^[147] In 2013, Buffett purchased another house in Palm Beach, with 3,100 square feet, for $1.3 million.^[148] In April 2014, he bought a 4,322 square foot house in Beverly Hills, California for $8.25 million.^[149] In 2020, Buffett sold a 4,783-square-foot house in Palm Beach for $6.9 million; he paid $4.95 million for it in 2011.^[150] Buffett also owned a home in Saint Barthélemy, where he lived on and off in the early 1980s. There, Buffett was part owner of the Autour de Rocher hotel and restaurant. It burned down.^[49] He also owned an apartment in the Deutsche Bank Center in New York City.^[106]

Buffett was a devoted New Orleans Saints fan, having attended the team's first game at Tulane Stadium in 1967.^[151] On April 1, 2012, he had Saints head coach Sean Payton serve as an honorary member of the Coral Reefer Band at a concert in New Orleans in protest of Payton's suspension by the National Football League as a result of the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal.^[152][153]

Buffett was an avid pilot and owned a Dassault Falcon 900 jet that he often used while on concert tours and during his travels. At various points, he also owned a Boeing Stearman, Cessna Citation, Lake Amphibian, Pilatus PC-12, and Grumman Albatross.^[154] While attempting to take off on August 25, 1994, around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, Buffett crashed his Grumman G-44 Widgeon into the waters off Nantucket, Massachusetts. The airplane nosed over, and Buffett was able to swim to safety, sustaining only minor injuries.^[155][154]

On February 4, 2001, Buffett was ejected from the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami during a basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks for cursing.^[156] The referee who ejected Buffett apparently did not know who he was, and got upset at Heat coach Pat Riley because he thought Riley—who was trying to explain to him who Buffett was—was insulting him by asking if he had ever been a "Parrothead", the nickname for Buffett fans.^[157]

On October 6, 2006, Buffett was detained by French customs officials in Saint Tropez for allegedly carrying over 100 pills of ecstasy. Buffett's luggage was searched after his Dassault Falcon 900 private jet landed at Toulon-Hyères International Airport. He paid a fine of $300 and was released. A spokesperson for Buffett stated the pills in question were prescription drugs but declined to name the drug or the health problem for which he was being treated. Buffett released a statement that the "ecstasy" was in fact a B-vitamin supplement known as Foltx.^{[158][159][160]}

At a performance by Buffett on January 26, 2011 (Australia Day) at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, he fell off the stage after an encore and lost consciousness.^[161][162] Coincidentally, Gordian Fulde, a trauma surgeon, was at the concert and close to the stage; Fulde treated Buffett at the scene.^{[161][163][164][165]} Buffett regained consciousness within a few minutes, and was then transported to St. Vincent's Hospital Emergency Centre for treatment and was discharged the next day.^[161] Buffett returned to Australia in 2012 for two shows in Brisbane and Melbourne, and made fun of the incident during those shows.^[166]

In 2015, Buffett spoke at the University of Miami's graduation ceremony and received an honorary doctorate in music. Wearing aviator sunglasses, he told graduates, from a line in his song "The Pascagoula Run", that "it's time to see the world, time to kiss a girl, and time to cross the wild meridian."^[167]

By 2017, Buffett's diet did not include sugar or carbohydrates, except on Sundays, and he no longer smoked marijuana.^[106]

Buffett was a supporter of the Democratic Party. He sang in Florida for the Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign and again for Bill Clinton in the White House in August 2000.^[168] Buffett hosted fundraisers for Democratic politicians, including several for Hillary Clinton in 2016.^[169] In 2018, Buffett hosted a concert to support Gwen Graham, daughter of Bob Graham, in the Democratic primary of the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election.^[132] In November 2018, he hosted a rally for Florida Democratic candidates Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson in West Palm Beach, Florida, changing the lyrics of some of his songs to disparage the policies of Rick Scott and Donald Trump. The rally faced some backlash from conservative fans.^[170][171]

Buffett was raised Catholic, although he did not practice the religion later in life.^[30]

In 2015, Buffett's hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi, named a bridge after him in his honor, Buffett Bridge.^[172]

A species of crustacean discovered in 2023, Gnathia jimmybuffetti, was named after Buffett.^[173]