Jimmy Buffett

Singer/songwriter/author Jimmy Buffett uses his travels and storytelling skills to explain the world at large to his far-flung legion of fans, affectionately known as Parrotheads, many of whom are professionals by day, and turn into colorful, tropical, outrageously-outfitted characters at night when Jimmy comes to town. Certain Buffett songs even inspire their unusual wardrobe. Now the fans have a whole new CD of songs to continue that tradition.

Jimmy's newest record, Far Side Of The World, released on Buffett's Mailboat Records, was produced by Russ Titelman (Eric Clapton, James Taylor, many others), and features new originals as well as some cover tunes. As with Jimmy's last two records, this one is also an enhanced CD, including footage of his recent travels and the making of this record.

Buffett has recorded thirty-three records, most of which have gone gold, platinum or multi-platinum. His recording, Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads, is one of the biggest selling box sets in MCA Records history. In fact, it was recently certified quadruple (4X) platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Also an author, Jimmy has also written three No. 1 best sellers: Tales From Margaritaville, Where Is Joe Merchant? and A Pirate Looks At Fifty. As a result, Jimmy is one of only six authors in the history of the New York Times Bestseller List to have reached #1 on both their fiction and non-fiction lists. The other five authors who have accomplished this are Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Irving Wallace and Dr. Seuss.

Wherever you are in the world, you can hear Jimmy's concerts broadcast live on his Internet radio station, Radio Margaritaville. Conceived along the lines of an early 70's FM station, promoting variety, spontaneity and working outside the box, radiomargaritaville.com is a haven for rhythm and roll. New and old meet good and great and are masterfully blended by true programmers. According to webcast raters Arbitron and MeasureCast, Radio Margaritaville has been one of the highest ranked web channels on the Internet.

Although Parrotheads are known for having a good time, their outrageous concert behavior and dress code is offset by their truly inspiring philanthropic efforts. For years, hundreds of fan clubs have banded together in communities across the country giving their time, their money, even their blood all in a spirit of camaraderie. Hard core fans all over the U.S., two Canadian Provinces, even the Land of Oz all contain groups founded on fun and philanthropy in what Parrotheads proudly refer to as Party With A Purpose.

Jimmy Buffett translated his easygoing Gulf Coast persona into more than just a successful recording career -- he expanded into clothing, nightclubs, and literature -- but the basis of the business empire that kept him on the Fortune magazine list of highest-earning entertainers was his music. Born in southern Mississippi and raised in Alabama, Buffett moved to Nashville to try to make it in country music in the late '60s. After signing to the Barnaby label, he released one album, 1970's Down to Earth, from which the socially conscious single "The Christian?" suggested he might be more at home protesting in Greenwich Village. (Barnaby "lost" his second album, High Cumberland Jubilee, though they would find it and release it after he became successful.) Instead, the songwriter moved to Key West, FL, where he gradually evolved into the beach-bum character and developed the tropical folk-rock style that would endear him to millions.

Signing to ABC-Dunhill Record (later absorbed by MCA), Buffett achieved notoriety but not much else with his second (released) album, White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973), which featured a song called "Why Don't We Get Drunk" ("...and screw?" goes the chorus). Buffett revealed a more thoughtful side on Living and Dying in 3/4 Time (1974), with its song of marital separation "Come Monday," his first singles-chart entry. But it took the Top Ten song "Margaritaville" and the album in which it was featured, 1977's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, to capture Buffett's tropical world view and, for a while, turn him into a pop star.

By the start of the '80s, Buffett's yearly albums had stopped going gold, and he briefly tried the country market again. But by the middle of the decade, it was his yearly summer tours that were filling his bank account, as a steadily growing core of Sun Belt fans he dubbed "Parrotheads" made his concerts into Mardi Gras-like affairs. Buffett launched his Margaritaville line of clothes and opened the first of his Margaritaville clubs in Key West. He also turned to fiction writing, landing on the book bestseller lists.

His recording career, meanwhile, languished, though a hits compilation sold millions; a 1990 live album, Feeding Frenzy, went gold; and a 1992 box-set retrospective, Boats, Beaches, Bars, and Ballads, became one of the best-selling box sets ever. Buffett finally got around to making a new album in 1994, when Fruitcakes became one of his fastest-selling records. It was followed in 1995 by Barometer Soup and Banana Wind in 1996. The following year, Buffett began working on a musical adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel -Don't Stop the Carnival with the author himself. After Broadway producers expressed little interest, the production ran for six weeks in Miami during 1997. In spring of 1998, Buffett released a collection of songs from the production as he began mulling over the idea of taking the play on the road. In 1999 he released Beach House on the Moon as well as Live: Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

During the first few years of the millennium, Buffett's newly launched Mailboat label issued close to a dozen concert recordings, as well as the 2002 studio album Far Side of the World. Two years later, Buffett allowed RCA to distribute his second Mailboat studio album, License to Chill. Live albums recorded in Hawaii and Boston appeared in 2005, followed by an all-new collection of songs called Take the Weather with You in 2006 and two more live sets, Live in Anguilla in 2007 and Feeding Frenzy: Live in 2008. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide