From People: Jimmy Buffett’s Daughter Delaney Shares Sweet Video of Late Singer on the 1-Year Anniversary of His Death
Jimmy Buffett’s daughter Delaney is paying tribute to the late icon.
On Monday, Sept. 1, Delaney shared a video of Buffett smiling, singing and playing the guitar on Instagram to mark the one-year anniversary of his death.
“Four years ago, I helped my dad record a series of videos about some of his lesser-known songs. Looking back, these moments with him are even more precious than I realized,” Delaney, 32, captioned the post.
“This day, we were talking about his song, Death of an Unpopular Poet. But we always got off topic, and it often resulted in beautiful tangents that taught me things I never knew about him. This particular one was a favorite of mine because it captures his spirit so well.”
She concluded, “It’s been a year, but it feels like yesterday we were together. Life is short. Spend it with the people you love. And keep every voicemail.”
Buffett shared three children with his wife Jane Slagsvol: daughters Savannah and Delaney and son Cameron. In 2020, Delaney collaborated with Buffett on a YouTube video series called “Songs You Don’t Know by Heart.” In each video, Delaney asked her dad questions about a different rare song from his music catalogue, and then he performed it live.
“The concept was to film dad and give intimate looks into songs and go down memory lane,” she told Newsweek in August 2020 of the video series.
“I sit down one-on-one with him and get an unplugged version of these songs. Not only to jog his memory, but also mine to remember the stories he would tell,” she continued. “Some songs he knew off cuff, and others it took some time for him to remember.”
The “Margaritaville” singer died on Sept. 1, 2023 with family and friends by his side, a statement posted on his social media and website confirmed. He was 76.
“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” the statement read. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”
According to an official obituary for the star posted to his website, Buffett died of Merkel cell skin cancer, which he had been diagnosed with four years prior.
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After his death, his sister Laurie Buffett McGuane and her husband, author Tom McGuane opened up to PEOPLE about saying goodbye to the musician. They both agreed that in his final months, his playful attitude ever faded despite his illness.
“He was always high-spirited, fun-loving, hard working and creative,” said Tom, a friend of Buffett’s for more than 50 years. “It is remarkable to be able to say that he remained the same during the last month of his life. His sense of humor was fully intact. God bless him for keeping himself that way.”
Laurie shared that she and their sister Lucy were by his side when he died and the trio spent time reminiscing on their childhood in Alabama.
“We shared memories of our childhood with Jimmy during his last days,” she said. “We would repeat stories, and Jimmy would laugh and nod his head to let us know that he remembered. I have never seen Jimmy depressed ever. Not even at the end. We all like to joke and laugh and that was very much Jimmy.”