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Jimmy Buffett
Famed “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett has died at the age of 76, but his cause of death was not released.
“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website confirmed on the evening of September 1, 2023. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”
Although most famous for “Margaritaville,” Buffett also had hit songs like “Come Monday,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Volcano,” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Although a Cause of Death Was Not Released, Jimmy Buffett Had Been in Hospice Care, Reports Say
GettyJimmy Buffett
According to the Associated Press, although a specific cause of death has not been released by Buffett’s team, he rescheduled concerts in May because of “illness” and had revealed on social media that he was hospitalized, without providing details.
According to TMZ, Buffett’s illness was not sudden, and he had been receiving hospice care before his death.
In May, he wrote on social media, according to CNN: “I had to stop in Boston for a check-up but wound up back in the hospital to address some issues that needed immediate attention.”
Jimmy Buffett, Who Was Born in Mississippi But Raised in a Port Town in Alabama, Was Inspired by His Grandfather’s Steamship Stories
According to his website, Buffett “was born on Christmas day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi and raised in the port town of Mobile, Alabama.”
His grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, “was a captain on a steamship and his father J.D. traveled to India and Africa with the Army Corps of Engineers before settling in Mobile,” the website says.
“For young Jimmy, the Gulf of Mexico was the doorway to a world of adventure where the characters he heard about in his grandfather’s stories were waiting to be discovered. The siren call of exotic ports was in contrast to his days as a parochial school student and an altar boy, and it only took a guitar to take him off course from the life his parents had imagined for him,” it reads.
“When Jimmy saw how a fraternity brother in college with a guitar garnered the attention of the girls, he quickly learned a few basic chords and started playing himself. Suddenly Jimmy’s world opened up – while he still attended classes, he quickly had his first band and went from busking the streets of New Orleans to playing 6 nights a week at Bourbon Street clubs,” the website says.
Jimmy Buffett Leaves Behind His Wife, Jane Slagsvol
GettyJimmy Buffett and Jane Slagsvol attend the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.
Buffett was married to wife Jane Slagsvol. According to Today, he also leaves behind three kids.
He saw her at a bar in Key West when she was a college student, according to Today, quoting him as saying that Slagsvol was wearing a “long pink dress that made a lasting impression on me.”
She was his second wife.
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Jessica McBride is a news reporter covering breaking news, politics and crime for Heavy. She is a former reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Waukesha Freeman newspapers in Wisconsin and is a senior journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. More about Jessica McBride
