Jimmy Buffett voted the Most Famous Floridian

From the USA Today Network: Jimmy Buffett voted the ‘Most Famous Floridian,’ here’s a look back at his ties to the state

Florida has a long history of attracting the rich, talented and famous, while producing some legends and icons itself. But which Florida-loving celebrity is the most famous of them all? According to five rounds of polling, it’s Mr. Margaritaville himself, the late, great Jimmy Buffett.

To celebrate Jimmy Buffett’s selection as the “Most Famous Floridian,” here’s a quick look back at his lifelong love affair with the state, and which other celebrities made the top 10 list.

Buffett wasn’t born in Florida. Here’s where his story started

Despite what many think, Jimmy Buffett wasn’t a native Floridian. The late singer was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Christmas Day 1946, and grew up in Mobile, Alabama.

He took up music while attending Auburn University in Alabama, but flunked out due to his party lifestyle. According to the Fort Myers News-Press, he eventually graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

He soon started playing professionally in Nashville and worked as a stringer (a writer who is typically paid by the story) for Billboard magazine for a short period. He also married his first wife, Margie Washichek, in 1969 in Tennessee.

He married his second wife, Jane Slagsvol, whom he was married to when he died in 2023, eight years later in 1977. He and Jane reportedly met in 1971 in Key West, Florida.

When was Jimmy Buffett first introduced to Florida?

So how did Buffett find himself in Florida? While his music was not taking off in Nashville, he found his calling elsewhere — in the Florida Keys.

According to the official Key West Margaritaville website, Buffett was first introduced to the Keys in 1971, when visiting his singer-songwriter friend, Jerry Jeff Walker, in Coconut Grove. According to the website, Walker offered Buffett “refuge” since he was down on his luck after ending his marriage and not getting any offers for his music.

“After a week or two of Florida-orientation, they piled into ‘Flying Lady,’ Jerry Jeff’s elegant silver and maroon ’47 Packard sedan, for a drive southward. Jimmy Buffett had never before seen the Florida Keys,” the website says.

“Key West was an outpost over 100 miles from our mainland – closer to Cuba than to Florida – a place of fascinating history and charm, dependent upon the ocean for much of its income yet subject to the whims of weather and the perils of change. Jimmy’s discovery of the island meant everything to the man.”

He soon moved to the Keys full-time and worked on a fishing boat during the day, while playing throughout the town’s streets at night.

Why did Jimmy Buffett relocate to Florida? Here’s where singer settled in state

According to his website, that trip to the Keys changed his life and, in turn, the lives of countless others. Once he moved to Florida, he fully embraced the Key West lifestyle — both in his songs and his casual uniform of Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops.

Corey Malcom, lead historian in the Monroe County Library’s Florida Keys History Center, wrote about one of Buffett’s first concerts in Key West, playing at Crazy Ophelia’s when he was 25 years old. This performance received much praise and led to more gigs around town.

The Florida Division of Arts further shares that his songwriting blossomed, and he penned several of his most iconic hits while residing in the state.

The singer enjoyed living part-time in Palm Beach since the 1970s. Buffett had been a staple of the South Florida community, owning a home in the Eden Properties neighborhood and dining at several local restaurants.

Buffett once told The Palm Beach Post about living in Palm Beach: “No one bothers me. It’s amazing. I’m not on television, and that’s the big difference. I can walk around with shocking anonymity. People don’t know who I am. I went to Disney World walking around the other day and was stopped twice.”

Jimmy Buffett and his wife, Jane, bought and sold several homes and properties in and around Palm Beach and the Florida Keys through the years, accumulating a robust Florida real estate portfolio. When Buffett died in September 2023, he left three homes in Palm Beach, all of which have since been sold.

‘Margaritaville’ is inspired by Jimmy Buffett’s time in Key West
“Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ away,” an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those “growing older, but not up.”

According to an interview with “60 Minutes,” Buffett never expected the song to gain the popularity it did. He has shared that he wrote the hit song while getting margaritas with a friend before flying back to the Keys.

“It was a hot day,” the singer told the Arizona Republic in 2021. “And they were damn good margaritas. … And I kind of came up with that idea of this is just like Margarita-ville. She kind of laughed at that and put me on the plane. And I started working on it.”

‘Live out a Jimmy Buffett song’ at these 10 places in Florida

If you want to “go where it’s warm” to celebrate our most famous Floridian properly and live out his lyrics, there are plenty of Margaritaville-like places in the Sunshine State. After all, the song’s inspiration came from days spent along Florida’s beaches.

“Stranded on a sandbar” — Cayo Costa

“But there’s this one particular harbor” — Apalachicola

“I’ve got to fly to Saint Somewhere” — St. Augustine

“Got to stop wishing, got to go fishing” — Destin

“It’s five o’clock somewhere” — Jupiter

“Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville” — Fort Myers Beach

“There’s a woman goin’ crazy on Caroline Street” — Key West

“You got fins to the left, fins to the right” — Orlando

“Strollin’ down the avenue that’s known as A1A” — Vero Beach

“Hey Mr. Spaceman, won’t you please take me along. I won’t do anything wrong.” — Space Coast

Here’s who readers selected as the top 10 most Famous Floridians:

1) Jimmy Buffett – Late singer, lived in Key West, Palm Beach

2) Tom Petty – Late rock musician from Gainesville

3) Burt Reynolds – Late actor lived on Jupiter Island, went to FSU

4) Thomas Edison – inventor and businessman who wintered in Fort Myers

5) Ray Charles – Late legendary singer, lived and went to school in St. Augustine

6) Tim Tebow – Heisman Trophy Florida Gators legend, raised in Jacksonville.

7) Jack Nicklaus – Golf GOAT, lives in North Palm Beach

8) Tiger Woods – Golf GOAT, lives in Jupiter

9) Gloria Estefan – Singer and actress, lives in Miami

10) Donald Trump – President of the United States, lives in Palm Beach