Buffett, Jimmy

Musician, author. The grandson of a sea captain and son of a Navy shipbuilder, singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett's music and writings are full of references to sea life also by way of his drunken-sailor persona. Raised in Mobile, Alabama, Buffett moved to New Orleans after his high school graduation to attend college where he worked as a guitarist and vocalist performing folk music and composing his own music. In the late 1960s he moved to Nashville, to enter the music business. While writing for Billboard magazine Buffett performed locally and signed a recording contract with Barnaby Records. He settled near Key West, Florida, living for a time aboard his ketch, island-hopping and smuggling marijuana.

In 1977 his gold record Margaritaville was released. Tales from Margaritaville, a collection of humorous short stories and personal anecdotes, was published in 1990. He had previously written a children's book, The Jolly Mon (1988), with his daughter Savannah Jane, but Tales from Margaritaville was his first full-length book. He followed it in 1992 with the novel Where is Joe Merchant? establishing his storytelling talents not only in music, but in literature. Although he still maintains his drunken-sailor persona in his work, he devotes a great deal of time and his work's proceeds to philanthropic activities.

Source: Contemporary Authors Online . The Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

From the guide to the Jimmy Buffett Papers, 1975-1993, (Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida)