Jimmy Buffett died of skin cancer at his home in Sag Harbor, NY, on Long Island, according to a statement on the singer-songwriter’s website.
After Mr. Buffett died on Friday at age 76, his website announced the death but did not name the cause or location of his death. In an update from the weekend, the website said he had been suffering from Merkel cell carcinoma for four years. Merkel cells are a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer and are only diagnosed about 2,500 times a year in the United States. Until a few years ago she had a life expectancy of five months.
Mr. Buffett’s 1970s hits like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” which mixed country rock with a few calypso tunes and included wry lyrics about the carefree life of boating and lounging in beach bars, made him a big deal Cult hero scale.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, he sold at least 23 million albums in the United States alone, putting him on a par with Jimi Hendrix and the Beastie Boys. And Mr. Buffett’s annual tours – in which he usually appeared barefoot, in a comfortable T-shirt or Hawaiian button-down shirt – were wildly successful, drawing millions of fans who sang along, drank heavily and called themselves the Parrot Heads.
Mr. Buffett was one of popular music’s most successful and ambitious businessmen, building a vast empire on the good times and island escapism he sang about in his songs. These included Margaritaville restaurants and resorts, shoes, drink mixes and the 2018 Broadway jukebox musical “Escape to Margaritaville.”
This year, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion, with $570 million from his tours and recordings and $140 million from planes, homes and his shares in Berkshire Hathaway – the holding company, its chairman and CEO The multi-billionaire Warren Buffett was a long-time friend.