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On the night of Fri. September 1st, long-time singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, age 76, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family and friends. Buffett had Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer that is diagnosed in fewer than 3,000 people in the U.S. every year.
Senior George Straub is a fan of Buffett and will miss his tropical music style.
“He’s one of my favorite singers. Margaritaville is a great song and I’ll keep listening to it in his honor,” said Straub.
Social Studies teacher Mr. Steven Anderson, another Buffett fan, has a favorite line from Buffett’s song “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes”: “If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane.”
Buffett was born on Christmas Day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and raised in Mobile, Alabama. Buffett’s grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, was a captain of a steamship, and his father, J.D., traveled to India and Africa with the Army Corps of Engineers. His father and grandfather’s stories helped Buffett develop a newfound interest in adventure and discovery.
Then, in college, Buffett saw how a fraternity brother was able to catch the attention of girls with his guitar skills. So, Buffet quickly learned a few basic chords and started playing himself. Suddenly, Buffett’s world opened up, as he quickly joined his first band and started playing at Bourbon Street six nights a week.
After graduation, Buffett headed to Nashville to work for Billboard Magazine and to try his luck as a folk-country singer, releasing his first record, “Down to Earth” in 1970. However, it was his trip to Key West, Florida with Jerry Jeff Walker in 1971 that would inspire Buffet to merge his musicality and storytelling.
Then in 1977, Buffett released “Margaritaville.” A laid-back melody about life in the tropics, the song spent 22 weeks on the Billboard chart, peaking at number eight. It launched Buffett into national fame, and nearly a decade later, inspired him to launch a business empire.
Buffett would go on to produce 27 studio albums, New York Times bestselling books, a Broadway play, numerous movie and television appearances, Grammy nominations, and Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards. Even with all these accomplishments, it was always the music that inspired Buffett.
The statement on Buffett’s website sums up how “Parrot Heads” are feeling perfectly: “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”
