Jimmy Buffett: MoreThan Margaritaville

James William Buffett was born on Christmas day, December 25th, 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi and grew up beside the Gulf of Mexico. This probably accounts for his love of the ocean, beaches, and his choice of subject matter in songs and books.

He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969 with a degree in history and began his foray into the music industry in Nashville. His fifth album, 1977's Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, contained the breakthrough hit song "Margaritaville" and Buffett was on his way to the top. He developed a fan following who call themselves Parrotheads, and Buffett made more money from his concerts than the sale of his many albums.

Two of the more unusual albums were Christmas Island, which is a collection of holiday songs, and Parakeets, a collection of Buffett songs sung by children and containing cleaner lyrics .

Buffett has claimed that his favorites of his own songs are: "He Went to Paris", "Death of an Unpopular Poet", "Come Monday", "A Pirate Looks at Forty", "Nautical Wheelers", "Son of a Son of a Sailor", "Sending the Old Man Home", "Twelve Volt Man", and "Distantly in Love".

"Margaritaville" and "Come Monday" are two of his most popular songs. Buffett licensed the name "Margaritaville" to a brand of tequila, a margarita mix, and a chain of merchandise stores. In 1985, Buffett opened the first of the "Margaritaville" restaurants in Key West. He also has Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurants. Between his restaurants, album sales, and tours, he earns an estimated $60-70 million a year. Buffett has actually cut back his tours to 20 to 30 concerts per year, but tickets still sell out in minutes.

In 2003, he had a duet with Alan Jackson on the country hit "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."

In August 2006, he released "Bama Breeze." The album is dedicated to all the hometown bars destroyed in Alabama during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Another song on the album, "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On," refers to the destruction of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

His latest album is 2006's "Take the Weather With You".

Buffett is planning a joint project with the Anheuser-Busch brewing company to produce his own beer called Lone Palm. The beer is named after a song from his 1994 album Fruitcakes. The label of the beer bottle is supposed to have a pirate's map on it. Also, the seaplane airport at the Orlando Margaritaville Cafe is called Lone Palm.

Jimmy has written 3 number one best sellers. Tales from Margaritaville and Where Is Joe Merchant? were on the New York Times Best Seller fiction list. His book A Pirate Looks At Fifty went straight to the number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller non-fiction list. That made him one of only seven authors in that list's history to have reached number one on both the fiction and non-fiction lists.

Ernest Hemmingway is one of the others. His latest book, A Salty Piece of Land, was released on November 30, 2004, and included a CD single with the same title. The book was a New York times best seller.

Jimmy is the co-founder, along with former Florida governor Bob Graham, of the Save the Manatee Club. Buffett has been appointed Honorary Ambassador of Peace for the Harvey Ball Foundation and does a lot of work with environmental groups in Florida and the Caribbean.

One of Buffett's many passions is flying. He is a licensed pilot and owns a 1954 Grumman Albatross seaplane called "The Hemisphere Dancer".

Margie Washichek was Buffett's first wife. They divorced in 1972. His second wife is Jane Slagsvol, with whom he has three children. They were briefly separated in the early 1980's but reconciled in 1991 and are happily married today.

Jimmy Buffett has had his fair share of troubles and success. He is one of the great performers and musicians of the past 30 some years and gives back to the environment and sea life that means so much to him.