The singer-songwriter, who built his emporium based on the lifestyle that his hit song ‘Margaritaville’ reflected, died on Friday, September 1, at the age of 76, the family of the artist and businessman reported through his website. A two-time Grammy nominee and winner of numerous country music awards, Buffett made a name for himself performing his folk-country songs throughout the United States in the 1970s.
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Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the ‘Margaritaville’ business empire, always on vacation, has died at the age of 76 surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs.
The details of the death of the singer who in 1977 composed the song ‘Margaritaville’, a title inspired by the popular Mexican drink and which occupied the top positions in the sales charts of the time, have not been disclosed. A melodic song, with a tropical twist, that became a favorite with baby boomers.
Born in 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Buffett began his musical career in Nashville, Tennessee, in the late 1960s as a country artist and recorded his first album, the country-tinged folk rock record ‘Down to Earth’ in 1970. He also had other popular songs like ‘It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere’ and ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’. He released more than two dozen albums and gave countless concerts over the course of six decades.
After several albums, in 1977 he released ‘Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes’, which contained the song ‘Margaritaville’, which catapulted him to the top of the sales charts and was the seed of a lucrative business empire.
The song made him one of the richest men in the American music industry. In 2016, Variety magazine notes, his personal wealth was estimated at $500 million.
Thus, the ‘Margaritaville’ concept became a lifestyle that includes hotels, restaurants, clothing, footwear and even pool floats. For older fans – known as “Parrotheads” – who couldn’t get enough, the first “Latitude Margaritaville” retirement community opened in Florida in 2018, and others soon followed, promising “food, fun, music and escapism” for those over 55 years of age.
The idea for the ‘Margaritaville’ brand came about in the mid-1980s, when Buffett noticed that people walking around Key West were wearing T-shirts with his (misspelled) name on it. He first opened a T-shirt store and then a coffee shop.
In 1994 he told Forbes that “if you’re an artist, if you want to be in control of your life…then you have to be a businessman, whether you like it or not.”
In 2023, Buffett – who had a 28% stake in the company Margaritaville Holdings – entered the Forbes list of billionaires. In addition, he published several novels, including ‘Tales from Margaritaville’ and a memoir ‘A Pirate Looks at Fifty’, which also became bestsellers.
Although only “Margaritaville” was in the top ten, Buffett spent half a century on stage and toured annually with his Coral Reefer Band.
With EFE AND Reuters
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