JIMMY BUFFETT 1946-2023 HE LIVED HIS LIFE LIKE A SONG'

THE MOGUL FOUND PEACE IN LIFE'S SIMPLE PLEASURES THROUGHOUT HIS MORE-THAN-50-YEAR MUSIC CAREER-AND IN A CANCER DIAGNOSIS IN HIS FINAL YEARS

- RACHEL DESANTIS

Jimmy Buffett never lost his capacity for joy, even amid a yearslong cancer journey. Last October the musician turned mogul was fishing in the Bahamas when he and longtime friend Carl Hiaasen came upon a large lemon shark. The sudden arrival of a powerful predator might have spooked some, but not Buffett. “The shark was really close, but Jimmy was so excited,” author Hiaasen recalls. “He had a drone up because he wanted a video. He wanted to put it onstage during his next tour when he performed ‘Fins.’ ” On that same trip Buffett also made waves on an electric surfboard, zooming away from Hiaasen with the giddiness of a child. “He was supposed to take it easy, although he didn’t know what that meant,” says Hiaasen. “He just got up and disappeared, and after five minutes he came back, hopped off and was as happy as can be. There was no way to slow him down.”

Hits like “Margaritaville” cemented Buffett as the poster child for the easy, breezy, laid-back island lifestyle. And the singer maintained his signature zest for life until he died of Merkel cell carcinoma on Sept. 1, four years after he was diagnosed with the aggressive form of skin cancer. Just weeks before his death the 76-year-old Buffett made a surprise appearance at a waterfront café in Rhode Island, where he sang six songs and told the venue’s owner he felt “effing incredible,” according to local paper