Earlier this month, the world lost a talented entertainer to Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. To the world, Jimmy Buffett was a talented singer, songwriter, and musician. To USM graduates, he was one of our own. He left behind an amazing legacy of music and good times.
Buffett was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. At a young age his family moved to Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from high school in 1964. After high school Buffett enrolled at Auburn University but struggled as a student and failed out after his first year. Undeterred by his experience at Auburn, Buffett enrolled at Pearl River Junior College. His grades at PRJC were good enough for him to transfer to The University of Southern Mississippi in 1966. His time at USM became part of local legend. balancing his classes and music. As a USM student he would frequently travel to the French Quarter in New Orleans to play music. Buffett graduated from USM with a bachelor’s degree in 1969.
After USM graduation, Buffet moved to Nashville where he wrote for Billboard Magazine. It would be the only 9-to-5 job in his life. He continued to work on his music and ultimately moved to Key West, Florida, where he crafted his well-celebrated beach persona. His musical style was one-of-a-kind, blending Caribbean Island vibes with pop, rock, and country sounds. It was a formula for success: his hit songs include “A Pirate Looks at 40,” “Come Monday,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Son of a Sailor,” “Fins,” and “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” (with Alan Jackson). His signature song was “Margaritaville,” a song about a beach resort employee who finds enjoyment in the simple life despite minor hardships (cutting his heel on a pop-top and losing the salt). The music brought Buffett devoted fans affectionately known as “parrot heads.”
Buffett was a proud alumnus of USM. In 2002, he endowed a scholarship at USM named after his mother, Mary Loraine Peets Buffet. He donated a research vessel to the Gulf Coast Research Lab in 2011. In 2018, Buffet was inducted into the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame. The USM baseball program honors him with reoccurring “Parrot Head Night” promotions, complete with parrot-themed baseball uniforms. A bronze historic marker was erected on campus near the Hub to honor him (and his bandmate Greg Taylor).
In the age of social media, it has become popular for companies to brand themselves as “necessary” to a certain lifestyle. Buffet was one of the first to “sell a lifestyle.” He built a business empire based on his easy-going beachy persona. He sold a lifestyle of leisure with plenty of fun, friends, and fellowship, all with a tropical coastal vibe. For many people it was the cure to the ails of loneliness and boredom. Along the way, Buffett sold music, t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, blenders, shrimp, Margarita mix, beach towels, trinkets, and operated a multitude of restaurants, hotels, and resorts.
Buffett devoted his life to finding contentment and enjoyment in his music. He made a lot of fans happy and in the process, he made a lot of money too. In April 2023, Forbes listed Buffett as one of the world’s newest billionaires. What an amazing journey from Pascagoula to USM student to entertainer billionaire; through it all Buffett always maintained his unassuming, unpretentious, happy-go-lucky style. He will be greatly missed.
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Keith Ball is a local attorney and a lifelong resident of the Friendly City.
