Remembering Jimmy Buffett, the songman who constructed a monetary empire with a real, laid-back contact

There had been all the time rumors of the 2 Buffetts being by some means associated — they weren’t, however they cast a friendship nonetheless. But even with out that blood tie, they’d a lot in widespread — particularly, a capitalistic genius that made them every insanely rich. Perhaps much more essential, they every confirmed of their phrases and deeds that it was by no means simply concerning the cash.

For those that have by no means thought of themselves a part of Jimmy’s legion of followers often known as Parrot Heads, right here’s the fundamental gist of the artist’s life and profession.

A man from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi finds success with a tropics-meets-country/pop type of music that’s straightforward on the ears and invitations individuals to sing alongside. But he finds even larger success by turning that model — and Jimmy Buffett was a model lengthy earlier than marketeers spoke in such phrases — right into a merchandising and life-style empire.

“Margaritaville” was greater than a tune. It grew to become a restaurant chain, a resort chain, even a 55-and-older residential advanced. And as his enterprise empire grew, Jimmy additionally by no means stopped hitting the highway to play dozens of live shows in any given yr, itself no small money-making operation. Heck, the person even had a Broadway musical to his identify, though it didn’t show fairly the smash hit.

It all added up massive time from a dollars-and-cents perspective. Buffett’s web price was $1 billion, in response to Forbes. Sure, there are artists and celebrities who’ve made extra cash, nevertheless it’s price maintaining in thoughts that Jimmy did all this with out being a lot of a success maker — in reality, his solely Top 10 hit was “Margaritaville,” a tune that dates from all the way in which again to 1977.

Again, it was about constructing a model — and consistently feeding and rising it.

And but, underlying that model, as goofily hedonistic because it grew to become, was Jimmy’s actual expertise as a singer-songwriter. At its finest, his music wasn’t simply straightforward on the ears; it was, at turns, intelligent, soulful, witty and joyous. I say this as somebody who listened to lots of Jimmy — not simply because I as soon as resided in Jimmy’s beloved Florida (he lived in Key West in his formative days and later had a home in Palm Beach), but additionally as a result of I additionally lined him whereas working as a pop-music critic for a few decade on the Palm Beach Post.

If you pay attention — I imply actually pay attention — to a few of Jimmy’s hottest tunes you’ll discover a man in love with an excellent narrative: Think of the sad-sack story behind “Margaritaville,” with its story of a man looking for his “long lost shaker of salt.” But I additionally relish among the lesser-known Jimmy. A private favourite: “The Night I Painted the Sky,” a tune concerning the miracle that could be a summer time fireworks show.  

The level is there was all the time a “there” there with Jimmy Buffett. The model got here from a real and sincere place. I feel the Parrot Heads all the time have recognized that and beloved him all of the extra for it.

Not that Buffett minded the cash he constructed from his model. He admitted as a lot on one of many events I acquired to interview him (and he was all the time a really gracious interview, in contrast to so many celebrities I’ve come throughout). But once I challenged him that his carefree, sea-loving life-style may solely come about due to his riches, he countered that wasn’t actually the case.

“Well, if I took the money out of the equation, I would still be happy,” he advised me in that 1998 interview. “I’d be running a boat somewhere if I hadn’t been lucky enough to go this way.”

In that sense, Jimmy Buffett wasn’t a lot completely different from Warren Buffett, who has lived in the identical modest Omaha dwelling for many years and who visits a neighborhood barber for $18 haircuts. Sometimes monetary genius and humility go hand in hand.

It’s a lesson I feel just a few different billionaires may be taught. In the in the meantime, relaxation in peace, Jimmy.