A 67 Year Old “Pirate” – A Jimmy Buffett Biography

Jimmy Buffett’s big break in the music business did not come first try. His ‘lost years’ were spent with Barnaby Records in Nashville, who had signed him for a two-album contract deal. The first album Down to Earth flopped, only selling 324 copies, and the second did not even see the light of day. His Nashville dreams of becoming a country singer seemed more like nightmares at this point. Little did they know, he would soon become a sensation and a brand to be known and loved by many.

Born on Christmas in Mississippi in 1946 and raised in Alabama, Buffett had Deep South roots throughout his childhood. He attended Auburn University and later University of Southern Mississippi, majoring in Journalism. During his time in school, he learned guitar to impress girls. After his time in Nashville, he left a failed marriage of four years and record deal in 1972 and moved to Florida to stay with a friend, where he thought he had a gig lined up.

When he arrived in Miami, there was no gig. He and his friend decided to take a weekend trip from Miami and ended up in the town that has proven to be his inspiration and biggest influence in his musical career, Key West. The town provided the evolution of his island escapism, pirate-sailor lifestyle, as well as the creation of his tropical country-rock music style.

Under his new guise and an open space at ABC Dunhill, he was given a second chance at recording. His second debut album released in 1973, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, helped the songwriter establish himself, which features three songs that later turn up on his Greatest Hits album. The next album Living and Dying in ¾ Time established his reputation with a Top 30 single “Come Monday” in 1974. But the album that really made his career take off was platinum Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, with the single “Margaritaville” reaching Top 10 in 1977.

In 1978, he released You Had to be There live album that earned him another gold album. This album helped show how much natural charisma Jimmy had in front of a crowd- his concerts turn into an event, not just a typical live performance of his songs. People travel far and wide to see him play. Part of the event starts hours before the concert even begins. Fans tailgate in parking lots of the venue, sharing drinks, laughs, and stories of how they became fans.

In the late ’70s, Buffett married Jane Slagsvol and had two daughters named Savannah Jane and Sarah Delaney – who are mentioned in quite a few of his songs. They also adopted a son, Cameron Marley. They own a home in the Hamptons as well as a house that Buffett visits frequently in the Caribbean island of St. Barts.

In 1981, he released an album called Coconut Telegraph, which led to the creation of a fan club newsletter of the same name. The 1985 compilation Songs You Know by Heart was subtitled Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s) to make fun of the fact that his only actual major hit was “Margaritaville”. In the mid-80s, his summer tours began to birth a growing core of his devoted and cult-like following. During a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, he made a comment about how the people who kept coming back to see his shows wore Hawaiian shirts and parrot hats, similar to the followers called “Deadheads” for The Grateful Dead. A member of his Coral Reefer Band coined the term “Parrothead” to describe Jimmy’s fans. These fans create a party-like atmosphere, similar to Mardi Gras but with a tropical twist. At concerts, the attire of Parrotheads includes tropical shirts, leis, and the scent of alcohol and marijuana. In 1987, a review in Nashville’s Tennessean wrote, “There are few concert experiences as downright fun as being in the midst of the Parrothead brotherhood”.

The fans are part of Buffett’s success. He received very little radio exposure throughout his career. His records sell because of the old word-of-mouth trick. Fans are so passionate about him that they are willing to go to lengths to expose their friends and family to Jimmy. It is a less commercial sort of advertisement, with a more personal experience. It is much easier to listen to Buffett’s music than it is to describe it, one of the reasons why it creates such an experience to the fans than other music.

Most Buffett fans expose their children to his music and they grow up loving the music, becoming what fans call “Parakeets”. When a fan comes across another, it bonds them in a certain way. The connection between the fans is raw. Jimmy has noticed the devotion, “My interpretation is that they are basically pretty normal people with a slight strain of insanity in their makeup. There aren’t many causes out there, and Parrothead-ism seems to be one that they can affectionately embrace”.

In the ‘80s, Buffett bought himself a Lake Renegade Amphibian aircraft and had flying instruction to his private pilot certification with single engine land and sea. He now has a Commercial Pilot License and owns several planes – one that is now placed outside of the Key West Margaritaville and another outside of Orlando Margaritaville. He has had a few close calls during his flying career. In 1994, he lost control during take-off from Nantucket, Massachusetts and the plane nosed over and crashed into the water. He luckily was able to swim to safety and had minor injuries.

His albums became more successful than ever in the 1990s. He made the Top 10 with four albums: Fruitcakes in ’94, Barometer Soup in ’95, Banana Wind in ’96, and Beach House of the Moon in ’99. He also released a Christmas-themed album in 1996. He covered popular Christmas songs, as well as penned two tracks. Critics said that it was not a traditional Christmas album, much like Jimmy’s style. In 1996, after landing in Jamaica, authorities shot at his airplane, mistaking it for a drug-runner plane. The incident was called “Jamaica Mistaica” and appeared on Banana Wind.

Buffett also became a brand and built an empire after the “Margaritaville” lifestyle during this time. The state of mind became a state of being. He opened the first Margaritaville Store in Key West in 1985. People would come into the store assuming they could get a margarita or a cheeseburger “in paradise”, just like the titled song perceives. After two years, the Margaritaville Café joined the store. The second Margaritaville Store and Café opened in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1992. Buffett recognizes New Orleans as another place of escape, with ties of his grandfather setting sail to exotic places as a gateway out of normalcy. Buffett started in New Orleans musically, which was his gateway out to the world. Other stores opened in Charleston, Orlando, Glendale, and Panama City. He also created his own ale: Land Shark Lager.

He launched his own independent label, Mailboat Records, and an online radio station called Radio Margaritaville. Mailboat Records produced around a dozen concert albums, including some recorded in Hawaii and Boston, as well as the studio album Far Side of the World in 2002. Buffett allowed RCA to distribute the next studio album for Mailboat, License to Chill. He also became a best seller of three books: a collection of short stories, Tales from Margaritaville; the novel Where Is Joe Merchant?; and the memoir A Pirate Looks at Fifty. Buffett wrote a children’s book with his daughter as well.

By 2014 Buffett has released over 30 albums, completed 40 tours, opened Margaritaville stores all over the world, and changed thousands of people’s lives. He has recorded multiple country hits with Alan Jackson in 2003 and 2007, as well as a pop and country hit single with Zac Brown Band in 2010, and performed his hit cover of James Taylor’s “Mexico” with the original artist at the Boston Strong Benefit Concert in 2013. He released Songs from St. Somewhere in 2013 and will open a Margaritaville timeshare in St. Thomas in 2014. It looks like this 67 year old pirate has no plans in stopping as he is currently on his “This One’s For You” tour.

Jimmy Buffett and Margaritaville have embraced the fantastical world defined by his song lyrics for decades. Buffett’s life is one worth dreaming of and he has the pleasure of telling it to the world. Buffett says, “The place where the fantasy seems to be dwindling is with the people; we have more tourists than travelers running around the world. I run all over the country and all over the world, and still find spots that just take my breath away. As long as you’re in motion, life is an experience and it’s meant to be lived. Fortunately, I come from a family of gypsies and sailors”.