Dan's Papers - October 3, 2008

You don't have to be a Hawaiian shirt-wearing, flip-flops-sporting Parrothead to appreciate Jimmy Buffett. In fact, you can just be you, in jeans and a t-shirt or however you're most comfortable, hanging at home with Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes playing and margarita in hand. Because that's how Jimmy Buffett rolls.

Of course, if you're just you while listening to some of Buffett's greatest hits on Radio Margaritaville on Sirius Satellite Radio and drinking a margarita made in your very own $400 Fiji Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker, even better. Because that's also how Jimmy Buffett rolls.

Buffett, who owns a home in North Haven and is often seen surfing at Ditch Plains in Montauk, has enjoyed enormous success as a singer, songwriter, author and businessman while bringing a low-key, laidback lifestyle to the masses. His triumphs include more than 30 albums, a Country Music Association award, four bestselling novels, stakes in the Margaritaville Café and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains, a large line of Margaritaville products and more. His ventures earn $100 million annually - not bad for a guy who, by the looks and sounds of it, would always rather be dozing in the sand under a palm tree.

Born December 25, 1946 to James Delaney and Mary Lorraine Buffett in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Buffett grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from McGill Institute for Boys (now McGill-Toole Catholic High School) in 1964, and later studied at Auburn University and The University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a bachelor's degree in history in 1969. From there he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a correspondent for Billboard magazine.

It was in Nashville that Buffett's music career began to take shape. He recorded his first album, Down to Earth, in 1970, and soon could be found performing for tips in public places. After a trip to Key West with country singer Jerry Jeff Walker, Buffett relocated there, and started combining country, folk and pop music with coastal and tropical themes, creating what is sometimes called a "gulf and western" sound. It was in Key West that Buffett's easygoing reputation began to develop.

More albums followed, including A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973), A1A (1974), Havana Daydreamin' (1976) and Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (1977), which featured the "Margaritaville" breakout hit. The '80s brought several more albums, as well as Buffett's initial forays into merchandising, including the first Margaritaville restaurants, which he opened in Key West in 1985.

While never venturing far from the spotlight through the '90s, Buffett enjoyed a surge in success in 2003, when he partnered with country musician Alan Jackson for "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." The duet went to the top of the country charts and earned the 2003 Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year - Buffett's first award in his 30-year music career. Riding this wave, License to Chill, released the following year, sold 238,600 copies in its first week and sent Buffett to the top of the pop charts - another career first. As of late last year, eight of Buffett's albums had gone gold, and nine had gone platinum or multi-platinum. Parrotheads can enjoy a variety of Buffett sounds on Radio Margaritaville, which broadcasts from the Margaritaville restaurant at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, is streamed online and can be heard on channel 31 on Sirius Satellite Radio. And Buffett still tours every year with the Coral Reefer Band; tickets for these shows are often gone minutes after going on sale.

For those who want to linger in paradise a little longer than a regular song, album or concert allows, Buffett has written several books, four of which have been bestsellers. Tales from Margaritaville (1989), a collection of short stories and personal anecdotes, spent seven months on The New York Times bestseller list. His memoir, A Pirate Looks at Fifty (1998), spent five weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, reaching number one in the second week. These were followed by A Salty Piece of Land (2004) and Swine Not? (2008).

Outside the literary world, the Buffett brand continues to expand. In 2006, Buffett teamed with Anheuser-Busch brewing company to produce his own beer under the Margaritaville Brewing label, Land Shark Lager. In June 2007, Buffett and Harrah's Entertainment announced plans to build the Margaritaville Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi; upon its completion in 2010, the resort will feature 798 rooms, a full-service spa and a pool with cabanas. And in May of this year it was announced that a second Margaritaville Casino will replace the Trump Marina Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

But if you can't make it to Biloxi or Atlantic City (or to any of the dozens of Margaritaville Café and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants across the country), don't fret - the master of paradise has ensured that you can always enjoy Margaritaville right in your own home. Just pour some Margaritaville Tequila in your Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker, grill some Margaritaville shrimp, kick off your Margaritaville sandals...and savor the good life.