Jimmy Buffett
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Jimmy Buffett (born James William Buffett on December 25 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi) is a singer and songwriter, 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".
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Early life of Jimmy Buffett
The son of James Delaney "J.D." Buffett Jr. and Mary Loraine "Peets" Buffett, Buffett grew up in Daphne, Alabama, where he attended McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. He only 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 journalism in 1969. While at Southern Miss, he was also initiated in to the fraternity Kappa Sigma (ΚΣ). He later married his first wife, Margie Washichek, at Spring Hill College in Mobile.
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. 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" restuarants 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 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. This alienated some longtime fans who felt that Buffett had abandoned his traditional "Gulf and Western" sound for something more mainstream.
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. Each tour includes at least two dates in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand and a date in Cincinnati at Riverbend Music Center, which always sells out within 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 is part-owner of two minor league teams: the Fort Myers Miracle and the Madison Black Wolf. Between his restaurants, album sales, and tours, he makes an estimated 60-70 million dollars a year.
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 sixth 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.
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.
Buffett has been instrumental in the work of the Save the Manatee Club.[1]
He is friends with legendary investor Warren Buffett and they suspect that they are distant cousins, but they haven't been able to document this. (Wall Street Journal, 5/2/2005)
Buffett is a huge fan of rock band Phish. He participated in a Phish tribute album called Sharin in the Groove, where he performed the band's song "Gumbo" (which references a gun-slinging parrott) with Lamont Berry of Chicago, IL. He also performed Van Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl in concert with Phish in 1995.
Buffett has appeared 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. He is referenced in Broken Lizard's Club Dread; Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton) is a Buffett-esque singer running his own tropical resort who is offended when asked to play "Margaritaville" rather than his own "Pina Coladaburg", released seven years earlier, exclaiming "son of a son of a bitch!"
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.
An avid pilot, Jimmy Buffett owns several planes including a Grumman HU-16 "Albatross". The plane, named "Hemisphere Dancer," is currently parked next to his Margaritaville restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Previously it could sometimes be seen on the ramp at Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA identifier SXM) in nearby Saint Maarten while he was in the area. This is the plane Buffett was flying during the incident recounted in the song "Jamaica Mistaica" on the album Banana Wind. While in Jamaica on January 16 1996, Buffett's plane was shot at by Jamaican police. The "Hemisphere Dancer" had been carrying Buffett, U2's Bono, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell. Police suspected it was smuggling drugs. No one was hurt, although there were a few bullet holes in the plane. Buffett's company has since licensed use of the name Margaritaville to several restaurants in Jamaica, in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril, where the "Jamaica Mistaica" incident took place.
Buffett was hired to sing for Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski at a party on the Island of Sardinia. The local news showed a video of him singing at the extravagant Roman toga party. Horatio Sanz impersonated Buffett on SNL after the incident, alleging he "smoked dope with Hulk Hogan."
He has donated $500,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief so far.
His last name is often misspelled "Buffet".
Discography
| Year | Album/CD | Record Label | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Down To Earth | Barnaby | |
| 1971 | High Cumberland Jubilee | Barnaby | Acoustic |
| 1973 | A White Sport Coat & A Pink Crustacean | Dunhill | |
| 1974 | Living & Dying in 3/4 Time | Dunhill | |
| 1974 | A1A | Dunhill | |
| 1975 | Rancho Deluxe | United Artists | Movie soundtrack |
| 1976 | Havana Daydreamin' | ABC | |
| 1977 | Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes | ABC | |
| 1978 | Son of a Son of a Sailor | ABC | |
| 1978 | You Had To Be There | MCA | Live recording |
| 1979 | Volcano | MCA | |
| 1981 | Coconut Telegraph | MCA | |
| 1981 | Somewhere Over China | MCA | |
| 1983 | One Particular Harbour | MCA | |
| 1984 | Riddles In The Sand | MCA | |
| 1985 | Last Mango in Paris | MCA | |
| 1985 | Songs You Know By Heart | MCA | Greatest Hit(s) |
| 1986 | Floridays | MCA | |
| 1988 | Hot Water | MCA | |
| 1989 | Off To See The Lizard | MCA | |
| 1990 | Feeding Frenzy | MCA | Live Recording |
| 1992 | Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads | Margaritaville/MCA | Box Set |
| 1993 | Before The Beach | Margaritaville/MCA | Compilation of Down to Earth & High Cumberland Jubilee |
| 1993 | Margaritaville Cafe Late Night Menu | Compilation of various artists including Jimmy Buffett | |
| 1994 | Fruitcakes | Margaritaville/MCA | |
| 1995 | Margaritaville Cafe Late Night Gumbo | Compilation of various artists including Jimmy Buffett | |
| 1995 | Barometer Soup | Margaritaville/MCA | |
| 1996 | Banana Wind | Margaritaville/MCA | |
| 1996 | Christmas Island | Margaritaville/MCA | Christmas Songs |
| 1998 | Biloxi | Greatest Hit(s) | |
| 1998 | Don't Stop The Carnival | Margaritaville/Island | |
| 1998 | American Storyteller | Laserlight | |
| 1999 | Beach House on the Moon | Margaritaville/Island | |
| 1999 | There's Nothing Soft About Hard Times | Madacy | |
| 1999 | Buffett Live - Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2002 | Far Side Of The World | Mailboat | |
| 2003 | Meet Me In Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection | UTV/MCA/Mailboat | Greatest Hit(s) |
| 2003 | Live in Auburn, WA | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2003 | Live In Las Vegas, NV | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2003 | Live In Mansfield, MA | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2003 | Live In Cincinnati, OH | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2004 | License to Chill | Mailboat | |
| 2005 | Live In Hawaii | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2005 | Live In Fenway Park | Mailboat | Live recording |
| 2005 | Now Yer Squawkin | Mailboat | Compilation of Down to Earth & High Cumberland Jubilee |