Jimmy Buffett! Fun Concerts

Jimmy Buffet was born on December 25, 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Buffett majored in journalism at Auburn University and the University of Southern Mississippi, working briefly at Billboard magazine before launching his career as a folk and country singer and songwriter. A failed marriage and a move from Nashville to Key West, Fla., triggered a new appreciation for the healing powers of the tropical sun. In the late 1960's he recorded Down to Earth under the Barnaby label. Upon moving to Key West he became the beach-bum character with the tropical folk-rock style of music that now endears him to millions. Jimmy Buffet is famous for his easy going personality reflected in his music and lyrics. His style is referred to as all of the following: irreverent, humorous, rousing, laid-back, mellow, good-natured and wry.

Known as to most by one simple word: Buffett or Jimmy, if someone who saw Jimmy Buffett during the early days of his career--say 1972, when he was the opening act at a Miami coffeehouse/club called the Flick--was plucked from the past and deposited in the midst of a modern-day Buffett concert, that person's jaw would drop lower than Key West. Just as the Grateful Dead have their core following of Deadheads, Buffett's own loyal troops, called "Parrot Heads" due to their colorfully tropical taste in hats, are among the most colorful in pop history. Jimmy Buffett: Not just a singer, but a cultural icon.

Buffett's tropical tunes and seafaring tales offer a temporary escape for every office-bound baby boomer with a mortgage, a two-car garage and a surly boss. Few can resist the singer-songwriter's balmy fantasyland filled with palm trees, sandy beaches, cold beer, fast boats, cheeseburgers, margaritas and romance. Sure, there are sharks to reckon with and volcanoes to flee and broken hearts to mend. But--Buffett's message dictates--they can be dealt with. Buffett started writing earnest, positive songs with humor and wit, and his audiences grew slowly but steadily. He scored his first hit in 1974 with the wonderfully wistful ballad "Come Monday," but it was the booze-in-the-blender philosophical shrug of "Margaritaville" that put the wind in Buffett's sails. With little radio play and a glaring shortage of hit singles--but with a loyal and large group of Parrothead fans--Buffett has become one of the wealthiest beach bums in history.