Jimmy Buffett, "Margaritaville" singer, dies at 76
3 Video Views·Sep 2, 2023
Jimmy Buffett, known for "Margaritaville" and other soft-rock beachy songs, has died at 76 years old, according to a statement posted on his website and social media channels. A cause of death was not immediately revealed. Dana Jacobson has more.#Jimmy Buffett#Star News
Breaking news from overnight.
The death of musician and business mogul Jimmy Buffett.
According to a message on his website,
Buffett died peacefully last night,
surrounded by his family, friends, music, and dogs.
He was 76 years old.
His cause of death has not been revealed.
Buffett was forced to cancel a number of concerts,
though, this summer,
and acknowledged he had been hospitalized.
Buffett's brand of Calypso-themed escapist soft rock
earned him generations of devoted fans
and helped him build a business empire
and made him one of America's wealthiest celebrities.
♪ Wasting away again in Margaritaville ♪
When it was released in 1977,
Jimmy Buffett likely could not have imagined
what his song Margaritaville might lead to.
The anthem of a beach bum nursing a hangover
while pondering a lost love,
and a lost shaker of salt,
would soon catapult Buffett to stardom.
Off his sixth album,
Margaritaville peaked at number eight
on Billboard's Hot 100 list,
and was Buffett's most popular song.
It led to a life on the road,
and more than 40 years of touring.
Buffett started out as a country singer
and a street performer in New Orleans.
He visited the French Quarter back in 2017
with CBS Sunday Morning's Tracy Smith.
Do you think there would be a Jimmy Buffett
if there wasn't a New Orleans?
That's a very interesting question.
I don't think there ever would have been.
Those years being here really were formative years for me,
and it made me a better professional player
so that I thought I could make that leap.
This was like training ground for all of that.
That's an interesting question,
because I think no, it probably would not have happened.
♪ Cheeseburger in paradise ♪
♪ Camelot with an onion slice ♪
Over the years, Buffett's live performances,
raucous sing-alongs with his legion of rabid fans
known as Parrotheads,
became more lucrative than his album sales,
with concerts reportedly grossing
more than a million dollars a night.
♪ I like my lettuce and tomato ♪
Buffett used this commercial clout
to merchandise his music,
opening a chain of Margaritaville resorts and restaurants
and launching a lifestyle brand.
According to Forbes, Buffett's net worth
was over a billion dollars.
In 2018, he launched a Broadway musical
featuring his biggest hits,
and he continued to perform during the pandemic,
playing virtual shows for first responders.
This summer, Buffett canceled a number of concerts
due to an undisclosed illness and hospitalization.
Despite singing about sunny days and good times,
Jimmy Buffett acknowledged his own mortality.
Do you think about that a lot?
You know, there's an end coming up there.
♪ Wasting it away ♪
Working seems to be the magic elixir
when you are lucky enough to be an entertainer
or do things that you can still do at that age.
♪ Some people play the band ♪
According to the statement on his website,
Buffett lived his life like a song
till the very last breath.
And he survived by his second wife, Jane,
and his two daughters and sons, Sarah, Savannah, and Cameron.
Some jarring news this morning.
I mean, he did announce a little while back
that he was dealing with some issues,
but wasn't super public about all of this.
And was only 76.
Yeah, still surprising.
You in New Orleans sort of came across him a little bit.
Yeah, it was funny.
I first moved to New Orleans back in like 1994,
and I was with a bunch of journalists,
and we were hanging out in the French Quarter,
and they were like,
oh, Jimmy Buffett's over at the Margaritaville.
And I was like, who's that?
Oh boy.
Only Michelle.
They took me over, and he was just,
I'm thinking we're gonna see him performing.
And he was just hanging out in his restaurant.
It was just, you know, he was just like
kind of an everyday kind of folksy guy.
Never left that personality
of being a man of the French Quarter.
Yeah, his concert, I know you've seen him.
I saw him at Fenway Park in 2004,
which they did two shows there,
which they turned into an album.
Yeah, I was at Pine Knob in Michigan,
I wanna say 94, maybe.
Okay.
Just awesome.
I mean, even if you only knew some of his music,
once you went to a show,
you just wanted to listen to more.
Because whether it was ballads,
or Cheeseburger in Paradise, Margaritaville,
it just, there was something about it,
it took you away.
I just loved his folksy charm.
He was a treasure.
He'll be missed.
He will be.