The songwriter was behind many tropical-themed hits that sold out shows
Jimmy Buffett, beloved singer-songwriter behind the smash hit song “Margaritaville,” has passed away. Buffett died Friday (September 1) at his home. The news was confirmed on his official website and social media. He was 76.
“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement read. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”
Along with his band The Coral Reefers, Buffett’s tropical-themed pop rock was loved by many. His summer tours were always a hit, selling out shows around the world for decades. Often sporting a Hawaiian-style shirt and sunglasses, Buffett’s brand will be cemented in summer playlists for years to come.
Over a career that spanned five decades, Buffet’s “Margaritaville” was his only Top 10 hit. However, that ended up being more than enough. In a 2017 Forbes feature on the 40th anniversary of the seminal song, Dana Feldman wrote that the song “morphed into a global lifestyle brand that currently has more than $4.8 billion in the development pipeline and sees $1.5 billion in annual system-wide sales.”
“Since I wrote the song 40 years ago, ‘Margaritaville’ has affected just about everything we’ve done,” Jimmy Buffett told Feldman at the time. “From getting me on the radio first, to the evolution of the brand in so many areas that we couldn’t possibly conceive of in the beginning.”
In addition to “Margaritaville,” some of Buffet’s other enduring summer anthems included “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” “Fins,” and his duet with Alan Jackson, “It’s Five O’ Clock Somewhere.”