Jimmy Buffett¹ is a musician and author who was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, on Christmas Day 1946, and raised in Mobile, Alabama by his father who was a naval architect. Buffett has called himself 'the son of the son of a sailor' as his grandfather also earned his living on the sea. After changing colleges a couple of times he graduated from The University of South Mississippi. He then worked in Nashville, Tennessee and following that he moved to Key West, Florida. His musical style is eclectic and his audience widely varied.

Buffett came to fame in 1970 with his song 'Come Monday'² and is responsible for other well-known songs, perhaps the best known is 'Margaritaville' which also happens to be the name of his website.

Buffett's musical career has lasted more than 30 years and has generated more than 70 albums. Each year he spends a sizable portion of his time appearing onstage with his band The Coral Reefers, much to the delight of his fans.

Buffett also had a successful writing career including the books Where is Joe Merchant?, Tales From Margaritaville, A Salty Piece of Land and A Pirate Looks at Fifty which appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Despite massive success as both a musician and author, Buffett's greatest accomplishment is unquestionably this: he has conclusively proved wrong all the stuffy people who insist that inebriated hippies can never amount to anything.

He established a network of cafés in Key West, Orlando, Las Vegas, Mexico, Jamaica, and New Orleans. Then, in 1998 he started an Internet radio station (Radio Margaritaville) which later was also broadcast by Sirius Satellite Radio³.

Parrotheads

Just as the Grateful Dead has its fans called Deadheads, so Jimmy Buffet has his followers who call themselves 'Parrotheads'. They dress in tropical attire, meet in clubs and go to his concerts expecting to party. The musician Timothy B Schmidt is said to have come up the the name several years ago at a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio. Today there are hundreds of websites which use the term, and even Jimmy Buffett's own website uses it.

Conclusion

Call him a country rock singer or just a beach-bum minstrel. Whatever you call him, a lot of people like what they are hearing.

In the final analysis Jimmy Buffett's music will always be hard to categorise. Is it 'American'? Is it 'Caribbean'? Is it 'Country'? Is it 'Folk'? Is it 'Reggae'? Each listener must decide for him or herself.