The singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who built an entire empire around his hit song “Margaritaville,” passed away September 1st at 76 years of age in his Sag Harbor, New York, home surrounded by his family, friends, dogs, and music. His cause of death was reportedly a rare skin disease known as Merkel cell skin cancer. He had battled the disease for four years following his diagnosis.
The singers obituary read-
“Buffett was one of the most successful performers in popular music,”… “He filled arenas with fans who called themselves “Parrot Heads,” and popularized a signature blend of folk, country and Caribbean music with lyrics that often-reflected Buffett’s world travels.”… “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many,”
-Jimmy Buffett Obituary
Despite cancer treatments, Buffett continued to perform concerts, and his last concert was a surprise appearance in Rhode Island this July. Due to be released later this year, is his new album, Equal Strain on All Parts.
Buffett was a two-time Grammy Award-winning artist, a successful entrepreneur who built a chain of bars and even a resort built from the theme of his hit song “Margaritaville.” That single, released on February 14, 1977, became the anthem for beach bums around the nation. In 2021, Buffett reportedly told the Arizona Republic-
“There was no such place as Margaritaville,”… “It was a made-up place in my mind, basically made up about my experiences in Key West and having to leave Key West and go on the road to work and then come back and spend time by the beach.”
-Jimmy Buffett
Buffett leaves behind, Jane, his wife of 46 years; his three children Savannah, Sarah, and Cameron; his grandson Marley; and two sisters, Laurie and Lucy, and fans the world over. His family requests, in lieu of flowers, that people send donations to Buffett’s nonprofit “Singing for Change”, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Dana Farber Cancer Institute, or the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.”
-Sarah Dessen