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Jimmy Buffett (born James William Buffett on December 25 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi) is a singer, songwriter, and recently a film producer best known for his "island escapism" lifestyle and music including hits such as "Margaritaville" (No. 234 on the list of 'Songs of the Century'), and "Come Monday." He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads".

Early life of Jimmy Buffett

The son of James Delaney "J.D." Buffett Jr. and Mary Loraine "Peets" Buffett, Buffett grew up along the eastern shore of Mobile BayBuffett, J: "A Pirate Looks at Fifty", page 402. Random House, 1998. He attended high school at McGill Institute for Boys (now McGill-Toolen Catholic High School) in Mobile, Alabama. He began playing guitar during his college years at Auburn University and The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he received a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. While at Southern Miss, he was also initiated into the fraternity Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ). He later married his first wife, Margie Washichek, at Spring Hill College in Mobile. After graduating from college, Buffett worked as a correspondent for Billboard magazine in Nashville.

Career

Buffett began his official musical career in Nashville during the late 1960s as a country artist and recorded his first album, Down to Earth, in 1970. During this time Buffett could be frequently found busking in for the tourists in New Orleans. In fact it was Jerry Jeff Walker who took him to Key West on a busking expedition. He then moved to Key West and began establishing the easy-going beach bum persona for which he is known.

Buffett's third album was A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, now acclaimed as his best though it achieved only moderate sales. Havana Daydreamin' appeared in 1976, followed by 1977's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, which featured the breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville".

During the 1980s Buffett made far more money off his tours than albums and became known as a popular concert draw. He released a series of albums during the following twenty years, primarily to his devoted audience, and also branched into writing and merchandising. In 1985, Buffett opened the first of the "Margaritaville" restaurants in Key West, bringing new visibility and life to the Margaritaville name.

Two of the more unusual albums were Christmas Island, a collection of holiday songs, and Parakeets, a collection of Buffett songs sung by children and containing "cleaned-up" lyrics (like "a cold root beer" instead of "a cold draft beer").

In 1997, Buffett collaborated with novelist Herman Wouk to create a short-lived musical based on Wouk's novel, Don't Stop the Carnival. Broadway showed little interest for the play, so it was instead run for six weeks in Miami. He released the soundtrack for the musical in 1998.

In 2003, he partnered in a partial duet with Alan Jackson for the country hit It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, a number one hit on the country charts.

Buffett's most recent album, License to Chill, released on July 13 2004, sold 238,600 copies in its first week of release according to Nielsen SoundScan. With this, Buffett topped the U.S. pop albums chart for the first time in his three-decade career.

Buffett continues to tour throughout the year although recently he has shifted to a more relaxed schedule of ~20-30 dates, and never on back to back nights. In fact, he tries to play only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Ticket purchasing is becoming harder and harder each year. All of his concerts sell out in a matter of minutes.

Buffett co-owns the Margaritaville and Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurants (the latter of which is a part of the Outback Steakhouse family of restaurants). He loves baseball and was part-owner of two minor league teams: the Fort Myers Miracle and the Madison Black Wolf. Between his restaurants, album sales, and tours, he earns an estimated $60-70 million dollars a year.

In 2006, Buffett plans a cooperative project allegedly with Anheuser-Busch to produce his own beer called Lone Palm. Lone Palm was also the title of a song from his 1994 album Fruitcakes. The label of the beer bottle will most likely feature a pirate's map. The seaplane airport at the Orlando Margaritaville restaurant is also called Lone Palm.

Writing

Buffett has written three No. 1 best sellers. Tales from Margaritaville and Where Is Joe Merchant? both spent over seven months on the New York Times Best Seller fiction list. His book A Pirate Looks At Fifty went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller non-fiction list, making him the seventh author in that list's history to have reached No. 1 on both the fiction and non-fiction lists. The other six authors who have accomplished this are Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Irving Wallace, Dr. Seuss and Mitch Albom. He also co-wrote two children's books, Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls, with his eldest daughter, Savannah Jane Buffett.

His latest book, A Salty Piece of Land, was released on November 30, 2004, and included a CD single of the same title. The book was a New York times best seller soon after its release.

Trivia

  • While he was at Auburn University Jimmy Buffett was a pledge of Sigma Pi Fraternity, but left Auburn before he was initiated.

  • He is a regular visitor to the Caribbean island of Saint Barts and other islands where he gets inspiration for many of his songs and some of the characters in his books.

  • He is friends with legendary investor Warren Buffett and they suspect that they are distant cousins, but they have not been able to document this. (Wall Street Journal, 5/2/2005)

  • Buffett has had cameos in several movies, including Repo Man as "Additional Blond Agent", Congo as a pilot and in a cameo in Cobb. Additionally, he and his music will appear in the 2006 release Hoot.

  • Buffett appeared in the May 13, 1978, episode of Saturday Night Live. He also wrote and performed the theme song to the short-lived 1993 CBS television series Johnny Bago.

  • On November 23, 2004, Buffett raised USD$3.4 million at his "Surviving the Storm" Hurricane Relief Concert in Orlando, Florida to provide relief for hurricane victims in Florida, Alabama and the Caribbean affected by the four major hurricanes that year. He has donated $500,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief so far.

  • Buffett wrote the sound-track for, co-produced and acted in the film version of Hoot (film) which focuses on issues important to him, such as conservation.

Discography

Year Album/CD Record Label Description
1970Down To EarthBarnaby
1971High Cumberland JubileeBarnabyAcoustic
1973A White Sport Coat & A Pink CrustaceanDunhill
1974Living & Dying in 3/4 TimeDunhill
1974A1ADunhill
1975Rancho DeluxeUnited ArtistsMovie soundtrack
1976Havana Daydreamin'ABC
1977Changes in Latitudes, Changes in AttitudesABC
1978Son of a Son of a SailorABC
1978You Had To Be ThereMCALive recording
1979VolcanoMCA
1981Coconut TelegraphMCA
1981Somewhere Over ChinaMCA
1983One Particular HarbourMCA
1984Riddles In The SandMCA
1985Last Mango in ParisMCA
1985Songs You Know By HeartMCAGreatest Hit(s)
1986FloridaysMCA
1988Hot WaterMCA
1989Off To See The LizardMCA
1990Feeding FrenzyMCALive Recording
1992Boats, Beaches, Bars & BalladsMargaritaville/MCABox Set
1993Before The BeachMargaritaville/MCACompilation of Down to Earth & High Cumberland Jubilee
1993Margaritaville Cafe Late Night MenuCompilation of various artists including Jimmy Buffett
1994FruitcakesMargaritaville/MCA
1995Margaritaville Cafe Late Night GumboCompilation of various artists including Jimmy Buffett
1995Barometer SoupMargaritaville/MCA
1996Banana WindMargaritaville/MCA
1996Christmas IslandMargaritaville/MCAChristmas Songs
1998BiloxiGreatest Hit(s)
1998Don't Stop The CarnivalMargaritaville/Island
1998American StorytellerLaserlight
1998A Pirates Treasure MCA International
1999Beach House on the MoonMargaritaville/Island
1999There's Nothing Soft About Hard TimesMadacy
1999Buffett Live - Tuesdays, Thursdays, SaturdaysMailboatLive recording
2002Far Side Of The WorldMailboat
2003Meet Me In Margaritaville: The Ultimate CollectionUTV/MCA/MailboatGreatest Hit(s)
2003Live in Auburn, WAMailboatLive recording
2003Live In Las Vegas, NVMailboatLive recording
2003Live In Mansfield, MAMailboatLive recording
2003Live In Cincinnati, OHMailboatLive recording
2004License to ChillMailboat
2005Live In HawaiiMailboatLive recording
2005Live In Fenway ParkMailboatLive recording
2005 Now Yer Squawkin MailboatCompilation of Down to Earth & High Cumberland Jubilee
2006 “Hoot” Official Motion Picture Soundtrack MailboatFeatures Five Newly Recorded Songs''

Notes

See also

External links

American country singers | American male singers | American pop singers | American songwriters | American short story writers | American novelists | The University of Southern Mississippi alumni | People from Mississippi | 1946 births | Living people | Buskers | Auburn University alumni | Alabama musicians | Jimmy Buffett | Jimmy Buffett | Jimmy Buffett | Jimmy Buffett

 

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