Country Archives - Good Shepherd News - Fastest Growing Religious, Free Speech & Political Content https://goodshepherdmedia.net/category/truthful-news/entertainment/entertainers/music-culture/country/ Christian, Political, ‎‏‏‎Social & Legal Free Speech News | Ⓒ2024 Good News Media LLC | Shepherd for the Herd! God 1st Programming Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:17:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Good-Shepherd-News-Logo-150x150.png Country Archives - Good Shepherd News - Fastest Growing Religious, Free Speech & Political Content https://goodshepherdmedia.net/category/truthful-news/entertainment/entertainers/music-culture/country/ 32 32 Oklahoma Country Music Singer Toby Keith Dies at 62, flags at half-staff https://goodshepherdmedia.net/oklahoma-country-music-singer-toby-keith-dies-at-62-flags-at-half-staff/ Tue, 06 Feb 2024 19:50:26 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=17166 Country music industry reacts to Toby Keith’s death

“Today is a sad day for Country music and its fans.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The country music industry is mourning the loss of beloved singer and songwriter Toby Keith.

Keith, 62, died Monday night after a battle with stomach cancer.

The country singer died Monday February 5, 2024 at 62

“Toby Keith was big, brash, and never bowed down or slowed down for anyone,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “His story is a distinctly American one — a former roughneck oil worker who carved out his own space in country music with a sinewy voice and an unbending will to succeed.”

 

https://youtu.be/asMltxWho6M?si=QQ4a2GeUIhT7ywPC

Keith was best known for his hits like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” “I Love This Bar,” “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and “Red Solo Cup.” He’s a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame but has not been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“He wrote his breakthrough songs and later formed his own record label when he felt underserved by Nashville,” Young said. “He relished being an outsider and doing things his way. Proudly patriotic, he didn’t mind if his clear-cut convictions ruffled your feathers.”

Country music stars joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in passing condolences after Keith’s death, including Jason Aldean, who said he woke up Tuesday morning to the news.

“Today is a sad day for Country music and its fans,” Aldean wrote on X. “Toby was a huge presence in our business and someone we all looked up to and respected. You and your music will be forever remembered big man.”

“Beautiful Crazy” singer Luke Combs also weighed in, expressing his disbelief at the loss of a country icon.

“Damn, RIP Toby,” Combs said. “Can’t believe it.”

Country band Old Dominion called Keith a “true trailblazer” who will be missed but not forgotten.

“Authentic and heartfelt but always with a wink ‘til the end,” the band wrote on X. “He was larger than life in so many ways and his music will live on forever! Raising our red solos tonight — you will be missed by so many. Peace.”

Oklahoma Country Music Singer Toby Keith Dies at 62, flags at half-staff

NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) – Country Superstar and Oklahoma Native Toby Keith died on Monday. He was 62.

The announcement came with a post on his web site and social media accounts:

“Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.”

The “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” singer-songwriter, who had stomach cancer, died peacefully Monday surrounded by his family, according to a statement posted on the country singer’s website. “He fought his fight with grace and courage,” the statement said. He announced his cancer diagnosis in 2022.

The 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the 1990s, writing songs that fans loved to hear. Over his career he publicly clashed with other celebrities and journalists and often pushed back against record executives who wanted to smooth his rough edges.

He was known for his overt patriotism on post 9/11 songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” and boisterous barroom tunes like “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup.” He had a powerful booming voice, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and range that carried love songs as well as drinking song

Keith considered Moore to be his hometown and flags will be lowered to half-staff within city limits in his honor.

“Toby Keith was big, brash, and never bowed down or slowed down for anyone. His story is a distinctly American one—a former roughneck oil worker who carved out his own space in country music with a sinewy voice and an unbending will to succeed. He wrote his breakthrough songs and later formed his own record label when he felt underserved by Nashville. He relished being an outsider and doing things his way. Proudly patriotic, he didn’t mind if his clear-cut convictions ruffled your feathers. For three decades, he reflected the defiant strength of the country music audience. His memory will continue to stand tall.”

KYLE YOUNG, CEO COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

“Just waking up to the news of Toby Keith’s passing. Today is a sad day for country music and its fans. Toby was a huge presence in our business and someone we all looked up to and respected. You and your music will be forever remembered big man.” — Jason Aldean, on X, formerly Twitter.

 

“I loved him as a musician. A great Oklahoman. A great American. What a loss!” — Kristin Chenoweth, a fellow Oklahoman, on Instagram.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kristin Chenoweth (@kchenoweth)

“God Bless you and Family. Hard to imagine an America without Toby Keith in it.” — Randy Houser on Instagram.

source

Renowned country singer Toby Keith dies at 62 after battle with stomach cancer

 

Country singer Toby Keith died Monday at the age of 62 after a battle with stomach cancer.

“Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time,” a statement posted to Keith’s website and social media said.

Elaine Schock, who has been Keith’s publicist since 2003, confirmed his death to CNN. He leaves behind his wife, Tricia, and three children, Shelley, Krystal and Stelen, his publicist told CNN. His mother and two siblings survive him.

Keith revealed his stomach cancer diagnosis in 2022.

“I’ve spent the last six months receiving chemo, radiation and surgery. So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover and relax,” he said in a statement at the time. “I am looking forward to spending time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later.”

He continued performing, recently playing shows in Las Vegas.

Listen to some of Toby Keith’s biggest hits

The country singer died Monday February 5, 2024 at 62

Earlier this month, he posted a video offering advice to other songwriters. “Just toil away every day,” he said.

Keith said most of his catalog was created while he was writing at least four to five days a week. “You gotta have volume, you gotta have practice, and you gotta keep your chops up, and you gotta stay in the middle of the game,” he said.

Keith rehearses for “The 29th Annual American Music Awards” in Los Angeles on January 7, 2002.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Keith performed at the 2023 People’s Choice Country Awards in September and received the Country Icon Award.

He released his debut album in 1993 and is known for hits including “Red Solo Cup” and “I Wanna Talk About Me.” His 2002 song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” released in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, made him a household name.

Keith performed hundreds of shows for US service members abroad, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as at events for Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Keith performs during a United Service Organizations show on May 17, 2005, at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq.

Mike Theiler/USO/Getty Images

“There’s not one single thing political about supporting the troops,” he said.

In 2021, then-President Trump awarded Keith the National Medal of Arts, which the National Endowment for the Arts describes as “the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government.”source

Toby Keith, country singer-songwriter, dies at 62 after stomach cancer diagnosis

Toby Keith, a hit country crafter of pro-American anthems who both riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans, has died. He was 62.

The “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” singer-songwriter, who had stomach cancer, died peacefully Monday surrounded by his family, according to a statement posted on the country singer’s website. “He fought his fight with grace and courage,” the statement said. He announced his cancer diagnosis in 2022.

The 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the 1990s, writing songs that fans loved to hear. Over his career he publicly clashed with other celebrities and journalists and often pushed back against record executives who wanted to smooth his rough edges.

He was known for his overt patriotism on post 9/11 songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” and boisterous barroom tunes like “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup.” He had a powerful booming voice, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and range that carried love songs as well as drinking songs.

Among his 20 No. 1 Billboard hits were “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” “As Good As I Once Was,” “My List” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson. His influences were other working class songwriters like Merle Haggard and he tallied more than 60 singles on the Hot Country chart over his career.

Throughout the cancer treatments, Keith continued to perform, most recently playing in Las Vegas in December. He also performed on the People’s Choice Country Awards in 2023 as he sang his song “Don’t Let the Old Man In.”

“Cancer is a roller coaster,” he told KWTV during an interview aired last month. “You just sit here and wait on it to go away. It might never go away.”

Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semi-pro football before launching his career as a singer.

“I write about life, and I sing about life, and I don’t overanalyze things,” Keith told The Associated Press in 2001, following the success of his song “I’m Just Talking About Tonight.”

Keith learned good lessons in the booming oil fields, which toughened him up, but also showed him the value of money.

“The money to be made was unbelievable,” Keith told the AP in 1996. “I came out of high school in 1980 and they gave me this job December of 1979, $50,000 a year. I was 18 years old.”

In this April 7, 2014, file photo shows Toby Keith performs at ACM Presents an All-Star Salute to the Troops in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

But the domestic oil field industry collapsed and Keith had not saved. “It about broke us,” he said. “So I just learned. I’ve taken care of my money this time.”

He spent a couple seasons as a defensive end for the Oklahoma City Drillers, a farm team for the now-defunct United States Football League. But he found consistent money playing music with his band throughout the red dirt roadhouse circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

“All through this whole thing the only constant thing we had was music,” he said. “But it’s hard to sit back and say, ‘I’m going to go make my fortune singing music, or writing music.’ I had no contacts.”

Eventually his path took him to Nashville, where he attracted the interest of Mercury Records head Harold Shedd, who was best known as a producer for the hit group Alabama. Shedd brought him to Mercury, where he released his platinum debut record “Toby Keith,” in 1993.

Toby Keith arrives at the People’s Choice Country Awards on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

“Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” his breakout hit, was played 3 million times on radio stations, making it the most played country song of the 1990s.

But the label’s focus on global star Shania Twain overshadowed the rest of the roster and Keith felt that the executives were trying to push him in a pop direction.

“They were trying to get me to compromise, and I was living a miserable existence,” Keith told the AP. “Everybody was trying to mold me into something I was not.”

After a series of albums that produced hits like “Who’s That Man,” and a cover of Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying,” Keith moved to DreamWorks Records in 1999.

Keith often wore his politics on his sleeve, especially after the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001, and early on he said he was a conservative Democrat, but later claimed he was an independent. He played at events for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the latter giving him a National Medal of the Arts in 2021. His songs and his blunt opinions sometimes caused him controversy, which he seemed to court.

His 2002 song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” included a threat — “We’ll put a boot in your ass — It’s the American way” — to anyone who dared to mess with America.

That song got pulled from a patriotic ABC Fourth of July special after producers deemed it too angry for the show. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle called Keith’s song “pandering to people’s worst instincts at a time they are hurt and scared.”

Then there was the feud between Keith and The Chicks (formerly called the Dixie Chicks), who became a target of Keith’s ire when singer Natalie Maines told a crowd that they were ashamed of then-President George W. Bush. Maines had also previously called Keith’s song “ignorant.”

Keith, who had previously claimed that he supported any artist’s freedom to voice their opinion about politics, used a doctored photo of Maines with an image of Saddam Hussein at his concerts, further ramping up angry fans.

Maines responded by wearing a shirt with the letters “FUTK” onstage at the 2003 ACM Awards, which many people believed was a vulgar message to Keith.

Keith, who had acknowledged that he holds onto grudges, walked out of the ACM Awards in 2003 early because he had gotten snubbed in earlier categories, causing him to miss out when he was announced as entertainer of the year. Vince Gill accepted on his behalf. He came back the next year and won the top prize for a second year in a row, along with top male vocalist and album of the year for “Shock ’n Y’all.”

His pro-military stance wasn’t just fodder for songs, however. He went on 11 USO tours to visit and play for troops serving overseas. He also helped to raise millions for charity over his career, including building a home in Oklahoma City for kids with cancer and their families.

After Universal Music Group acquired DreamWorks, Keith started anew again, starting his own record label, Show Dog, in 2005 with record executive Scott Borchetta, who launched his own label Big Machine at the same time.

“Probably 75% of the people in this town think I’ll fail, and the other 25% hope I fail,” he said that year.

Later the label became Show Dog-Universal Music and had Keith, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Josh Thompson, Clay Walker and Phil Vassar on its roster.

His later hits included “Love Me If You Can,” “She Never Cried In Front of Me,” and “Red Solo Cup.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

He was honored by the performance rights organization BMI in November 2022 with the BMI Icon award, a few months after announcing his stomach cancer diagnosis.

“I always felt like that the songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry,” Keith told the crowd of fellow singers and writers. source

City of Moore honoring Toby Keith by lowering flags to half-staff

City officials added that they are grateful for the contributions Toby Keith made to Moore and that they extend their condolences to his family.

MOORE, Okla. —

Moore officials announced Tuesday that flags will be lowered to half-staff within city limits to honor country music superstar Toby Keith, who died Monday night.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of our beloved Toby Keith. Toby considered Moore his hometown and we were honored, on many occasions, to welcome him home and receive his overwhelming generosity,” city of Moore officials posted on social media. “Beyond his extraordinary musical talents, Toby was known for his generous spirit and his loyalty to our military, our state, his family, friends and fans.”

City officials added that they are grateful for the contributions Keith made to Moore and that they extend their condolences to his family.

Keith was born on July 8, 1961, in Clinton, but his family moved to Moore when the future country singer was young. He graduated from Moore High School in 1979 and went on to work in the oil fields before playing semiprofessional football for the Oklahoma City Drillers.

Even though Keith became one of the most well-known names in country music, he never forgot where he came from and gave back to the community that raised him in countless ways.

He started the Toby Keith Foundation in 2006, helping children with cancer. The foundation opened the OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for pediatric cancer patients receiving treatment.

Keith opened up several restaurants and bars statewide and made sure to support everything Oklahoma, including the Sooners. Throughout the years, he could be seen on the sidelines or in the stands at countless OU athletics events.

Early Tuesday morning, Keith’s website and social media pages announced that he died peacefully on Monday while surrounded by his family.

Keith was born on July 8, 1961, in Clinton, but his family moved to Moore when the future country singer was young. He graduated from Moore High School in 1979 and went on to work in the oil fields before playing semiprofessional football for the Oklahoma City Drillers.

Even though Keith became one of the most well-known names in country music, he never forgot where he came from and gave back to the community that raised him in countless ways.

He started the Toby Keith Foundation in 2006, helping children with cancer. The foundation opened the OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for pediatric cancer patients receiving treatment.

Keith opened up several restaurants and bars statewide and made sure to support everything Oklahoma, including the Sooners. Throughout the years, he could be seen on the sidelines or in the stands at countless OU athletics events.

Early Tuesday morning, Keith’s website and social media pages announced that he died peacefully on Monday while surrounded by his family. source

]]> Jimmy Buffett dead aged 76: Legendary ‘Margaritaville’ singer ‘passed away peacefully surrounded by family, friends, music and dogs’ https://goodshepherdmedia.net/jimmy-buffett-dead-aged-76-legendary-margaritaville-singer-passed-away-peacefully-surrounded-by-family-friends-music-and-dogs/ Sat, 02 Sep 2023 09:12:36 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=15858 Jimmy Buffett dead aged 76: Legendary ‘Margaritaville’ singer ‘passed away peacefully surrounded by family, friends, music and dogs’

An announcement was made on his official Twitter account late Friday night confirming that Jimmy had passed away that night surrounded by his loved ones.

The statement read: ‘Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs.

‘He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many’.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”

 

The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death.

The two-time Grammy nominee who is best known for his song Margaritaville had revealed in May that he had been hospitalized ‘to address some issues that needed immediate attention’.

RIP: Legendary singer Jimmy Buffett best known for his song Margaritaville died on Friday night aged 76 (pictured March 7)

So sad: An announcement was made on his official Twitter account late Friday night confirming that Jimmy had passed away that night surrounded by his loved ones (pictured in 2019)

Buffett leaves behind his wife, Jane Slagsvol, whom he’s been married to since 1977, and three children: Savannah, Sarah, and Cameron.

Following the heartbreaking Twitter announcement of his death, tributes began pouring in for Jimmy from fans and showbiz pals who expressed their sorrow over his passing.

One person wrote: ‘I’m absolutely gutted and crying right now over your death. Rest In Peace, Paradise and Love. Jimmy Buffet you are a legend to admire.’

While another shared: ‘Enjoy your cheeseburger in paradise my friend, see you in margaritiville RIP.’

‘Nooooooo. Truly heartbreaking. RIP to a legend like no other’ tweeted a third.

‘His memory will be a blessing to the millions who loved him’, commented a fourth fan.

With another adding: ‘May your soul rest in peace, Jimmy. Thank you for the many years of music that you have blessed this world with. May your memory live on forever.’

Heartbreaking: The statement read: 'Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs'

Heartbreaking: The statement read: ‘Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs’

Music legend: 'He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many' (pictured in March 2019)

Music legend: ‘He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many’ (pictured in March 2019)

His love: Buffett leaves behind his wife, Jane Slagsvol, whom he's been married to since 1977, and three children: Savannah, Sarah, and Cameron (pictured with Jane in March)

His love: Buffett leaves behind his wife, Jane Slagsvol, whom he’s been married to since 1977, and three children: Savannah, Sarah, and Cameron (pictured with Jane in March)

Back in May, Jimmy was forced to cancel his Second Wind Tour stop in Charleston, South Carolina following a health scare that landed him in the hospital.

Buffett later reported he would be returning home the following day and recuperating with friends before scheduling more shows.

‘Thank you for the outpouring of support and well wishes. I head home tomorrow for a while, and then will go for a fishing trip with old friends, along with paddling and sailing and get myself back in good shape,’ he said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

‘Looking forward to announcing a new date for Charleston as well as some new shows! Fins up!’

Buffett revealed previously that he had to be hospitalized following a routine check-up in Boston, prompting the cancellation of his band’s stop in Charleston, South Carolina.

‘I had a sudden change of plans this week that affected us all. Two days ago, I was just back from a trip to the Bahamas, thawing out from the California “winter tour”, and chomping at the bit to get to Charleston. I had to stop in Boston for a check-up but wound up back in the hospital to address some issues that needed immediate attention,’ he said in a statement.

‘Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you. I also will promise you, that when I am well enough to perform, that is what I’ll be doing in the land of She-Crab soup.

‘You all make my life more meaningful and fulfilled than I would have ever imagined as a toe headed little boy sitting on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts, your amazing years of loyalty, and just remember, “NOT YET!” Love to all!’

Tributes: Following the heartbreaking Twitter announcement of his death, tributes began pouring in for Jimmy from fans and showbiz pals who expressed their sorrow over his passing

Tributes: Following the heartbreaking Twitter announcement of his death, tributes began pouring in for Jimmy from fans and showbiz pals who expressed their sorrow over his passing

Music legend: ‘He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many’ (pictured in March 2019)

His love: Buffett leaves behind his wife, Jane Slagsvol, whom he’s been married to since 1977, and three children: Savannah, Sarah, and Cameron (pictured with Jane in March)

Back in May, Jimmy was forced to cancel his Second Wind Tour stop in Charleston, South Carolina following a health scare that landed him in the hospital.

Buffett later reported he would be returning home the following day and recuperating with friends before scheduling more shows.

‘Thank you for the outpouring of support and well wishes. I head home tomorrow for a while, and then will go for a fishing trip with old friends, along with paddling and sailing and get myself back in good shape,’ he said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

‘Looking forward to announcing a new date for Charleston as well as some new shows! Fins up!’

Buffett revealed previously that he had to be hospitalized following a routine check-up in Boston, prompting the cancellation of his band’s stop in Charleston, South Carolina.

‘I had a sudden change of plans this week that affected us all. Two days ago, I was just back from a trip to the Bahamas, thawing out from the California “winter tour”, and chomping at the bit to get to Charleston. I had to stop in Boston for a check-up but wound up back in the hospital to address some issues that needed immediate attention,’ he said in a statement.

‘Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you. I also will promise you, that when I am well enough to perform, that is what I’ll be doing in the land of She-Crab soup.

‘You all make my life more meaningful and fulfilled than I would have ever imagined as a toe headed little boy sitting on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts, your amazing years of loyalty, and just remember, “NOT YET!” Love to all!’

Tributes: Following the heartbreaking Twitter announcement of his death, tributes began pouring in for Jimmy from fans and showbiz pals who expressed their sorrow over his passing

 

Tributes: Following the heartbreaking Twitter announcement of his death, tributes began pouring in for Jimmy from fans and showbiz pals who expressed their sorrow over his passing

source

‘Margaritaville’ singer Jimmy Buffett, who turned beach-bum life into an empire, dies at 76

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76.

What You Need To Know

    • “Margaritaville” singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett has died at age 76. A statement on Buffett’s official website and social media pages says the singer died Friday “surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs”
    •  Buffett created beach bum soft rock with an escapist Caribbean flavor song and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions
    •  The song ”Margaritaville,” by far his biggest hit, was released in 1977 and spent 22 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100
    •  It became a seaside standard and inspired generations of fans — known as Parrotheads — to celebrate easy living

The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics.

“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.”

The song is the unhurried portrait of a loafer on his front porch, watching tourists sunbathe while a pot of shrimp is beginning to boil. The signer has a new tattoo, a likely hangover and regrets over a lost love. Somewhere there is a misplaced salt shaker.

“What seems like a simple ditty about getting blotto and mending a broken heart turns out to be a profound meditation on the often painful inertia of beach dwelling,” Spin magazine wrote in 2021. “The tourists come and go, one group indistinguishable from the other. Waves crest and break whether somebody is there to witness it or not. Everything that means anything has already happened and you’re not even sure when.”

The song — from the album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” — spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 8. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 for its cultural and historic significance, became a karaoke standard and helped brand Key West, Florida, as a distinct sound of music and a destination known the world over.

“There was no such place as Margaritaville,” Buffett told the Arizona Republic in 2021. “It was a made-up place in my mind, basically made up about my experiences in Key West and having to leave Key West and go on the road to work and then come back and spend time by the beach.”

The song soon inspired restaurants and resorts, turning Buffett’s alleged desire for the simplicity of island life into a multimillion brand. He landed at No. 13 in Forbes’ America’s Richest Celebrities in 2016 with a net worth of $550 million.

Music critics were never very kind to Buffett or his catalogue, including the sandy beach-side snack bar songs like “Fins,” “Come Monday” and “Cheeseburgers in Paradise.” But his legions of fans, called “Parrotheads,” regularly turned up for his concerts wearing toy parrots, cheeseburgers, sharks and flamingos on their heads, leis around their necks and loud Hawaiian shirts.

“It’s pure escapism is all it is,” he told the Republic. “I’m not the first one to do it, nor shall I probably be the last. But I think it’s really a part of the human condition that you’ve got to have some fun. You’ve got to get away from whatever you do to make a living or other parts of life that stress you out. I try to make it at least 50/50 fun to work and so far it’s worked out.”

His special Gulf Coast mix of country, pop, folk and rock added instruments and tonalities more commonly found in the Caribbean, like steel drums. It was a stew of steelpans, trombones and pedal steel guitar. Buffett’s incredible ear for hooks and light grooves were often overshadowed by his lyrics about fish tacos and sunsets.

Rolling Stone, in a review of Buffett’s 2020 album “Life on the Flip Side,” gave grudging props. “He continues mapping out his surfy, sandy corner of pop music utopia with the chill, friendly warmth of a multi-millionaire you wouldn’t mind sharing a tropically-themed 3 p.m. IPA with, especially if his gold card was on the bar when the last round came.”

Buffett’s evolving brand began in 1985 with the opening of a string of Margaritaville-themed stores and restaurants in Key West, followed in 1987 with the first Margaritaville Café nearby. Over the course of the next two decades, several more of each opened throughout Florida, New Orleans and California.

The brand has since expanded to dozens of categories, including resorts, apparel and footwear for men and women, a radio station, a beer brand, ice tea, tequila and rum, home décor, food items like salad dressing, Margaritaville Crunchy Pimento Cheese & Shrimp Bites and Margaritaville Cantina Style Medium Chunky Salsa, the Margaritaville at Sea cruise line and restaurants, including Margaritaville Restaurant, JWB Prime Steak and Seafood, 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar & Grill and LandShark Bar & Grill.

There also was a Broadway-bound jukebox musical, “Escape to Margaritaville,” a romantic comedy in which a singer-bartender called Sully falls for the far more career-minded Rachel, who is vacationing with friends and hanging out at Margaritaville, the hotel bar where Sully works.

James William Buffett was born on Christmas day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and raised in the port town of Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and went from busking the streets of New Orleans to playing six nights a week at Bourbon Street clubs.

He released his first record, “Down To Earth,” in 1970 and issued seven more on a regular yearly clip, with his 1974 song “Come Monday” from his fourth studio album “Living and Dying in ¾ Time,” peaking at No. 30. Then came “Margaritaville.”

He performed on more than 50 studio and live albums, often accompanied by his Coral Reefer Band, and was constantly on tour. He earned two Grammy Award nominations, two Academy of Country Music Awards and a Country Music Association Award.

Buffett was actually in Austin, Texas, when the inspiration struck for “Margaritaville.” He and a friend had stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant before she dropped him at the airport for a flight home to Key West, so they got to drinking margaritas.

“And I kind of came up with that idea of this is just like Margarita-ville,” Buffett told the Republic. “She kind of laughed at that and put me on the plane. And I started working on it.”

He wrote some on the plane and finished it while driving down the Keys. “There was a wreck on the bridge,” he said. “And we got stopped for about an hour so I finished the song on the Seven Mile Bridge, which I thought was apropos.”

Buffett also was the author of numerous books including “Where Is Joe Merchant?” and “A Pirate Looks At Fifty” and added movies to his resume as co-producer and co-star of an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s novel “Hoot.”

Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters, Savannah and Sarah; and son, Cameron. source

Jimmy Buffett, legendary ‘Margaritaville’ singer, dies at 76

He passed away peacefully Friday night “surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to his website said.

Jimmy Buffett, the singer-songwriter who drew millions of fans with his folksy tales of living and loving on tropical sandy beaches, frozen concoction in hand, died Friday night. He was 76.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” the statement on his website said. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”

“Margaritaville,” Buffett’s most recognized song, inspired restaurants and resorts, and helped make him a billionaire. This month, Forbes placed his real-time net worth at $1 billion.

He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, for “Hey Good Lookin’” — a cover of the Hank Williams classic — and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” a duet with country superstar Alan Jackson. Buffett dubbed his brand of music “drunken Caribbean rock ‘n’ roll.”

Fans, affectionately dubbed “Parrotheads,” were quick to pay tribute to the singer, who was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Christmas Day 1946.

Some fans quoted “Margaritaville,” which was released in 1977 and launched him into national fame and into the history of American music.

Many also cited “One Particular Harbor” when remembering the singer: “But there’s one particular harbor/ So far yet so near/ Where I see the days as they fade away/ And finally disappear.”

After learning guitar at college he began playing on the streets of New Orleans before going on to form his first band, the biography on his website says.

He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to work for Billboard Magazine and try his luck as a singer, the biography says. But it was in Key West in the 1970s that Buffett “found his true voice,” the biography adds.

Fellow country singer Jerry Jeff Walker first let him stay at his Coconut Grove home, and then they drove in a 1947 Packard to Key West, he told graduating students at the University of Miami, where he received an honorary doctorate in music in May 2015.

“Needless to say, my life took a big and wonderful change towards South Florida, which has a lot to do with why I’m standing here today,” he said, while wearing flip-flops under the academic robes.

He would go on to make 27 studio albums — with four platinum and eight gold albums — in a career that spanned over five decades

As time went on, Buffett also appeared on TV, movies and his work became a musical.

Buffett popped up in the film “Jurassic World” as “running park visitor with margarita drinks,” as IMDB put it. He carried two, one in each hand.

And he guest-starred in the Tom Selleck show “Blue Bloods,” playing both himself and a virtual double who posed as the singer and scammed people.

There was also a Broadway show based on Buffett’s music, “ Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville,” which debuted in 2017.

He also dedicated some of his time to charity, starting the“Save he Manatee Club,” a non-profit that seeks to protect the large, docile marine mammals from boating injuries and harm by the actions of people.

In a 2017 interview with Men’s Journal, Buffett was asked what remained on his bucket list before he died. “I have four things: Learn to hang ten. Go to space. Go to Pitcairn Island, where my Buffett ancestors are from. And go to Antartica,” he said.

The singer is survived by his wife, Jane Slagsvol, two daughters, Savannah and Sarah, and son, Cameron. source

‘Margaritaville’ singer Jimmy Buffett dies at 76

Jimmy Buffett, the singer-songwriter best-known for breezy, tropical-themed hits like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” has died at 76.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” read the announcement on his website and social media. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”

Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi on Christmas Day in 1946, James William Buffett didn’t pick up a guitar until his freshman year of college, where he earned a degree in history. He recorded his first album, 1970’s “Down to Earth,” in Nashville, Tennessee while working for “Billboard” magazine as a correspondent. Five other albums followed, each of which enjoyed modest sales and radio airplay. The exception was the 1974 “Billboard” Hot 100 top-40 single “Come Monday,” from Buffett’s third album, “Living and Dying in 3/4 Time.”

But it was Buffett’s breakthrough seventh album, 1977’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” that made him a star, on the strength of the album’s hit single, “Margaritaville.” Sung from the perspective of a man “wasting away” the summer season at a beach resort while questioning his life and romantic choices, “Margaritaville” was a top-10 “Billboard” hit and became Buffett’s signature song.

“Margaritaville’s” enduring popularity was affirmed in 2023 when the song was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, selected for inclusion for its “cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

“You’re lucky enough at some point to put your thumb on the pulse of something that people can connect with,” Buffett told the Registry at the time. “It’s an amazing and lucky thing to happen to you, and that happened with ‘Margaritaville.’”

MORE: By the Numbers: Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Margaritaville’

In addition to “Margaritaville” and “Come Monday,” Buffett’s hits – all displaying the signature musical style he early on described as “drunken Caribbean rock and roll” – included playful favorites like “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Fins,” as well as introspective ruminations like “A Pirate Looks at 40,” “He Went to Paris” and “Son of a Son of a Sailor.”

Buffett’s 1985 greatest hits album, “Songs You Know by Heart: Jimmy Buffett’s Greatest Hit(s),” remains his most commercially successful release, selling more than 5.6 million copies. The parenthetical ‘s’ at the end of “Hit” in the title is a winking acknowledgement that for some, “Margaritaville” is the only song for which they know him.

Over a performing career that spanned five decades, Buffett released more than 30 records, 17 of which were RIAA-certified gold or platinum for sales of 500,000 units or more. He was known for his near-constant touring schedule with his Coral Reefer Band, drawing a devoted fan base affectionately known as Parrotheads.

PHOTO: Jimmy Buffett performs during 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, May 8, 2022 in New Orleans.
Jimmy Buffett performs during 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, May 8, 2022 in New Orleans.
Erika Goldring/Getty Images

An avid sailor and private pilot, Buffett lived the lifestyle about which he sang and wrote. But he also was a savvy businessman, parlaying his persona and musical success into Margaritaville Holdings, a business empire formed in 1985 that encompassed music, lifestyle brands and more, including restaurants, resorts, clothing, home décor, foods, beer, tequila, and even a retirement community. “Forbes” estimated Buffett’s net worth at $1 billion as of June 2023.

Jimmy Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane, two daughters and a son. source

Jimmy Buffett, Roguish Bard of Island Escapism, Is Dead at 76

With songs like “Margaritaville” and “Fins,” he became a folk hero to fans known as Parrot Heads. He also became a millionaire hundreds of times over.

A black and white photo of Jimmy Buffett playing guitar and standing in front of a microphone.
Jimmy Buffett in 1977. He found a way of life in the Caribbean and Key West, Fla., making music peopled with beach bums and barflies.Credit…Chris Walter/WireImage, via Getty Images

Jimmy Buffett, the singer, songwriter, author, sailor and entrepreneur whose roguish brand of island escapism on hits like “Margaritaville” and “Fins” made him something of a latter-day folk hero, especially among his devoted following of so-called Parrot Heads, died Saturday at 76.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement on Mr. Buffett’s website and social media said. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”

Peopled with pirates, smugglers, beach bums and barflies, Mr. Buffett’s genial, self-deprecating songs conjured a world of sun, saltwater and nonstop parties animated by the calypso country-rock of his limber Coral Reefer Band. His live shows abounded with singalong anthems and festive tropical iconography, making him a perennial draw on the summer concert circuit, where he built an ardent fan base akin to the Grateful Dead’s Dead HeadsMr. Buffett found success primarily with albums. He enjoyed only a few years on the pop singles chart, with “Margaritaville,” his 1977 breakthrough hit and only single to reach the pop Top 10.

“I blew out my flip-flop/Stepped on a pop-top/Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,” he sang woozily to the song’s lilting Caribbean rhythms. “But there’s booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.”

Mr. Buffett’s music was often described as “Gulf and western,” a nod to his fusion of laid-back twang and island-themed lyrics, as well as a play on the conglomerate name Gulf and Western, the former parent of Paramount Pictures, among other companies.

His songs tended to be of two main types: wistful ballads like “Come Monday” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and clever up-tempo numbers like “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Some were both, like “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” a 1978 homage to Mr. Buffett’s seafaring grandfather, written with the producer Norbert Putnam.

“I’m just a son of a son, son of a son/
Son of a son of a sailor,” he sang. “The sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains/I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer.”

The Caribbean and the Gulf Coast were Mr. Buffett’s muses, and nowhere more so than Key West in Florida. He first visited the island at the urging of Jerry Jeff Walker, his sometime songwriting and drinking partner, after a gig fell through in Miami in the early ’70s.

“When I found Key West and the Caribbean, I wasn’t really successful yet,” Mr. Buffett said in a 1989 interview with The Washington Post. “But I found a lifestyle, and I knew that whatever I did would have to work around my lifestyle.”

 

A black and white photo of Mr. Buffett on a boat in nothing but a pair of shorts.
Mr. Buffett had an affinity for sailing, and his songwriting was greatly influenced by his laid-back life in Key West.Credit…Gems/Redferns, via Getty Images

The locales provided Mr. Buffett with more than just a breezy, sailing life and grist for his songwriting. They were also the impetus for the creation of a tropical-themed business empire that included a restaurant franchise, a hotel chain and boutique tequila, T-shirt and footwear lines, all of which made him a millionaire hundreds of times over.

“I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, and I’ve run my share of grass,” Mr. Buffett sang of his early days trafficking marijuana in the Florida Keys in “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”

“I made enough money to buy Miami,” he went on, alluding to his subsequent entrepreneurial pursuits. “But I pissed it away so fast/Never meant to last/Never meant to last.”

His claim to squandering his wealth notwithstanding, Mr. Buffett proved to be a shrewd manager of his considerable fortune; in 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion.

“If Mr. Buffett is a pirate, to borrow one of his favorite images, it is hardly because of his days palling around with dope smugglers in the Caribbean,” the critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in a 1999 essay for The New York Times. “He is a pirate in the way that Bill Gates and Donald Trump have styled themselves, as plundering rebels, visionary artists of the deal, not bound by the societal restrictions meant for smaller, more careful men.”

(The comparison to Mr. Trump here is strictly economic; Mr. Buffett was a Democrat.)

Mr. Buffett was also an accomplished author, one of only six writers, along with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and William Styron, to top both The Times’s fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists. By the time he wrote “Tales from Margaritaville” (1989), the first of his three No. 1 best sellers, he had abandoned the hedonistic lifestyle he had previously embraced.

“I could wind up like a lot of my friends did, burned out or dead, or redirect the energy,” he told The Washington Post in 1989. “I’m not old, but I’m getting older. That period of my life is over. It was fun — all that hard drinking, hard drugging. No apologies.”

“I still have a very happy life,” he went on. “I just don’t do the things I used to do.”

Jimmy Buffett performing on a baby blue electric guitar.
Mr. Buffett in 1991. “Margaritaville,” his blockbuster hit, rocketed him to fame in 1977.Credit…Tim Mosenfelder/ImageDirect, via Getty Images

James William Buffett was born on Dec. 25, 1946, in Pascagoula, Miss., one of three children of Mary Loraine (Peets) and James Delaney Buffett Jr. Both of his parents were longtime employees of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. His father was a manager of government contracts, and his mother, known simply as Peets, was an assistant director of industrial relations.

Jimmy was raised Roman Catholic in Mobile, Ala., where he took up the trombone in elementary school, at St. Ignatius Catholic School. He went to high school at another Catholic institution in Mobile, the McGill Institute.

In 1964 he enrolled in classes at Auburn University. He flunked out and later attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Biloxi, where he began performing in clubs. He graduated with a degree in history in 1969, before moving to the French Quarter and playing in a cover band on Bourbon Street.

In 1970 he moved to Nashville, hoping to make it as a country singer while working as a journalist for Billboard. (Mr. Buffett was credited with having broken the story about the disbanding of the pioneering bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs.) “Down to Earth,” his debut album, was released on Andy Williams’s Barnaby label that year. It sold 324 copies.

Mr. Buffett’s second album for Barnaby, “High Cumberland Jubilee,” went unreleased until 1976, long after he had signed with ABC-Dunhill and recorded “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean,” released in 1973 and featuring the debauched party anthem “Why Don’t We Get Drunk.”

Mr. Buffett had a fondness for puns, as witnessed by “A White Sport Coat,” an album title inspired by the song “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation),” a 1957 pop-crossover hit for the country singer Marty Robbins. Another album was called “Last Mango in Paris.”

A boy in midair, leaping onto a bodyboard in an outdoor surfing simulator. Palm trees and a sign reading “Margaritaville Beach Resort” can be seen behind him.

The “Margaritaville” restaurant and hotel chains are part of the tropical-themed business empire that Mr. Buffett built.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

Mr. Buffett’s 1974 release “Living and Dying in ¾ Time” included a version of the comedian Lord Buckley’s “God’s Own Drunk.” “Come Monday,” a lovelorn track from the record, became his first Top 40 hit.

“A1A” (also from 1974) was named for the oceanfront highway that runs along Florida’s Atlantic coastline. The album was Mr. Buffett’s first to contain references to Key West and maritime life, but it was 1977’s platinum-selling “Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes,” with the blockbuster hit “Margaritaville,” that finally catapulted him to stardom. “Fins,” another major single, was released in 1979.

 

A series of popular releases followed, culminating in 1985 with “Songs You Know By Heart,” a compilation of Mr. Buffett’s most beloved songs to date. The record became the best-selling album of his career.

Mr. Buffett also opened the first of his many “Margaritaville” stores in 1985. That was the year that the former Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit, then a member of the Coral Reefer Band, coined the term Parrot Heads to describe Mr. Buffett’s staunch legion of fans, the bulk of whom were baby boomers.

A supporter of conservationist causes, Mr. Buffett moved away from the Keys in the late ’70s because of the area’s increasing commercialization. He initially relocated to Aspen, Colo., before making his home on St. Barts in the Caribbean. He also had houses in Palm Beach, Fla., and Sag Harbor, on eastern Long Island.

In addition to touring and recording, activities he pursued into the 2020s, Mr. Buffett wrote music for movies like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Urban Cowboy.” He also appeared in movies and television shows, including “Rancho Deluxe,” “Jurassic World” and the “Hawaii Five-O” revival in the 2010s, where he starred as the helicopter pilot Frank Bama, a character from his best-selling 1992 novel, “Where Is Joe Merchant?”

Mr. Buffett favored wordplay in the names of his songs and albums, like “Last Mango in Paris” and “Jamaica Mistaica,” a sendup song about an incident that involved Jamaican authorities mistakenly shooting at one of his planes.Credit…Aaron Richter for The New York Times

An avid pilot, Mr. Buffett owned several aircraft and often flew himself to his shows. In 1994 he crashed one of his airplanes in waters near Nantucket, Mass., while taking off. He survived the accident, after swimming to safety, with only minor injuries.

In 1996 another of Mr. Buffett’s planes, Hemisphere Dancer, was shot at by the Jamaican police, who suspected the craft was being used to smuggle marijuana. On board the airplane, which sustained little damage, were U2’s Bono; Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records; and Mr. Buffett’s wife and two daughters. The Jamaican authorities later admitted the incident was a case of mistaken identity, inspiring Mr. Buffett to write “Jamaica Mistaica,” a droll sendup of the affair.

Mr. Buffett is survived by his wife, Jane (Slagsvol) Buffett, two daughters, Savanah Jane Buffett and Sarah “Delaney” Buffett; a son, Cameron Marley Buffett; and two grandsons. Two sisters, Lucy “Lulu” Buffett and Laurie Buffett, also survive him.

In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, Mr. Buffett was asked about a previous remark in which he somewhat incongruously cited the wholesome choral director Mitch Miller and the marauding Gulf Coast pirate Jean Lafitte as two of his greatest inspirations.

“Mitch Miller, for sure,” Mr. Buffett said, doubtless in acknowledgment of the way his own fans sang along with him at concerts. “In the old days: “Sing Along with Mitch?” Who didn’t?”

“But Jean Lafitte was my hero as a romantic character,” he continued. “I’m not sure he was a musical influence. His lifestyle influenced me, most definitely, ’cause I’m the very opposite of Mitch Miller.” source

Legendary musician Jimmy Buffett dead at 76: ‘Lived his life like a song til the very last breath’

Jimmy Buffett leaves behind his wife Jane Slagsvol and his three children: Savannah, Sarah and Cameron

Legendary singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett died on Friday at the age of 76 after struggling with an undisclosed health issue since 2022.

The “Margaritaville” icon died peacefully Friday surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs, according to a statement posted to his website and social media accounts.

“He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many,” the statement read. Buffett’s cause and place of death were not provided.

Buffett leaves behind his wife Jane Slagsvol and his three children: Savannah, Sarah and Cameron.

Jimmy Buffett

Singer Jimmy Buffett performs on NBC’s “Today” show in New York, August 15, 2013. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

The musician began struggling with a health issue starting last year, when he was hospitalized and forced to cancel several shows, according to USA Today. In May and June 2023, he canceled additional concerts after disclosing that he returned to the hospital to address medical issues that required “immediate attention.”

In addition to the 1977 hit “Margaritaville,” Buffett released several pop culture staples in the 1970s and 1980s, including “Come Monday,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty” and “Pencil Thin Mustache.”

Buffett was born on Christmas Day 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He began playing guitar during his first year at Auburn University before continuing his college years at Pearl River Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1969.

Musician Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett of Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band performs during the 2022 New Orleans & Jazz festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 08, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. ((Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage))

The entertainer then moved to Nashville and released his first country album in 1970 called “Down to Earth.” But in a 1971 trip to Key West with fellow country music singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, Buffett’s musical focus changed from outlaw country to Calypso folk-pop.

On top of his musical pursuits, Buffett was involved in business as well, opening his first Margaritaville store in Key West in 1985. Two years later, he opened a Margaritaville Café nearby.

Singer Jimmy Buffett

Legendary singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett died on Friday at the age of 76. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

Buffett’s business empire built eventually featured apparel, resorts, restaurants, beer, casinos, a radio station and retirement communities. Forbes estimated in 2017 that the Margaritaville global lifestyle brand had more than $4.8 billion in the development pipeline and $1.5 billion in annual sales. Buffett’s net worth was listed at $1 billion in June 2023.

The musician has 30 albums, launched Margaritaville Records in the early 1990s, wrote several fiction books and was involved in film and TV through musical contributions and cameos. source

]]> Media Downplay Oliver Anthony’s Overnight Success (And We Know Why) https://goodshepherdmedia.net/media-downplay-oliver-anthonys-overnight-success-and-we-know-why/ Tue, 15 Aug 2023 08:20:42 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=15528 The Media Downplay Oliver Anthony’s Overnight Success (And We Know Why)

Virginia crooner rocks iTunes charts with blue-collar anthems, protest songs

Oliver Anthony Rich Men North Of Richmond

Pretend you’re an entertainment journalist. 

There’s a new singer on the scene who has no agent, record label or marketing muscle behind him. He’s a virtual unknown, but by the power of social media his music explodes on the iTunes charts.

He lands not one or two but three songs in the top 10, a literal overnight sensation. His music dominates on social media, too, and his first live performance since his career ignited draws a sizable crowd.

He just joined X, formerly known as Twitter and now has more than 300K followers.

Worth a story, no?

It gets better.

The singer shares plainspoken lyrics that speak to the working stiff, the guys and gals who break their backs only to watch it scooped up by the government. The songs aren’t overtly political, but they speak to modern frustrations in ways that make progressives nervous.

How fast do you write that story?

Well, if you work for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline or TheWrap.com you don’t even bother. Those entertainment sites are ignoring the stunning rise of Oliver Anthony, a Virginia resident whose song “Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral mere days ago.

A Google News search also couldn’t find the AP or Reuters picking up the story. Most mainstream news outlets pretend it’s not happening.

Meanwhile, his recent concert drew strong media coverage from right-leaning outlets.

 

Billboard begrudgingly covered Anthony’s rise, while both TMZ and Rolling Stone found the most newsworthy element of his story is that conservative influencers are sharing his music.

Like that noted alt-right figure Joe Rogan.

There’s a reason these news outlets ignore select stories despite their obvious value.

Several, actually.

Some may be unaware of his overnight stardom. Progressive journalists live in a bubble, protected from right-leaning or contrarian views. Anthony may be all over a conservative’s social media landscape, but liberals may be blissfully unaware of his story.

There’s another angle, though.

Reporters understand Anthony’s work undercuts their narratives. Bidenomics is working! There is no collusion between the Biden administration and Big Tech!

Look, squirrel!

Everything is fine, and our elites have the situation firmly in hand.

HATE WOKE? YOU’LL LOVE THE HOLLYWOOD IN TOTO PODCAST

Anthony’s music says otherwise, and reporters are loathe to give those messages the oxygen they richly deserve.

Just wait, though.

Journalists may be pouring through Anthony’s social media feeds for “problematic” thoughts. Some may be on the ground in Virginia, digging for dirt on a singer who defied the groupthink. They may work harder discrediting Anthony than a certain president’s son and his miles and miles of misbehavior.

Their silence may soon be replaced with blistering editorials and investigations into why an unknown singer is outselling the biggest stars in music.

The best-case scenario for Anthony? He keeps making music for the masses while the media keeps looking the other way.

This is a big story in music. The biggest maybe since rapper Bryson Gray knocked Adele off the iTunes top spot in October 2021 with “Let’s Go Brandon.” Gray’s story was largely ignored by the music press, completely so by Rolling Stone. An unknown rapper beats the biggest-selling artist of the twenty-first century to number one? Nothing to see here. Why the crickets? Well, it didn’t help that Gray was an unapologetic conservative “punching up,” as they say, at the president. And Rolling Stone magazine is now, remember, the Establishment. It is the mainstream. It is legacy media. And it has a narrative to protect.

source
]]> Good American Music https://goodshepherdmedia.net/good-american-music/ Tue, 30 May 2023 17:11:16 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=4719 Good American Music

 

 

 

]]> Everything Alan Jackson Has Said About His Battle With Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease https://goodshepherdmedia.net/everything-alan-jackson-has-said-about-his-battle-with-charcot-marie-tooth-disease/ Fri, 11 Nov 2022 11:15:10 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=9372 Everything Alan Jackson Has Said About His Battle With Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

By  source

 

 

Listen to this awesome Country Artist SPOTIFY

 

Country superstar Alan Jackson has been battling Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease for more than a decade, but he didn’t go public with his diagnosis until September 2021.

“I have this neuropathy and neurological disease,” the Country Music Hall of Fame member explained during a Today show interview at the time. “It’s genetic that I inherited from my daddy. … There’s no cure for it, but it’s been affecting me for years. And it’s getting more and more obvious.”

Abbreviated as CMT, Charcot-Marie-Tooth is a hereditary disorder that affects the nervous system, causing progressive loss of muscle tissue and loss of sensation in the arms and legs. Patients may also experience trouble balancing and difficulty walking.

As Jackson explained during his Today appearance, the disease doesn’t shorten life expectancy, but it can make movement extremely difficult — especially for a person used to performing on stage night after night.

“I’ve been reluctant to talk about this publicly and to my fans,” the “Chattahoochee” singer explained when revealing his battle with the disorder, which also affected his grandmother and sister. “It’s called CMT, ironically enough, because CMT was a big part of my career.”

The Grammy winner released his debut album, Here in the Real World, in 1990, eventually becoming one of the most successful country stars of all time. He has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and has been named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year three times.

Throughout his career, he’s had wife Denise Jackson by his side. The duo, who were high school sweethearts, tied the knot in 1979 and later welcomed three daughters: Mattie (born in 1990), Ali (born in 1993) and Dani (born in 1997).

The couple briefly separated in 1998, but after their reconciliation, Denise wrote a 2007 memoir about their romance titled It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life. Since his diagnosis, the author has been one of her husband’s biggest supporters.

“When I’m down, he lifts me up. When he’s down, I try to lift him up,” Denise told Jenna Bush Hager in September 2021. “The happy side of that is we’ve had a fairy tale life.”

After opening up about his health battle, Alan announced the Last Call Tour, but he emphasized that he didn’t want to refer to it as a farewell tour. He’s also continued to support his colleagues in the music industry, playing at a Loretta Lynn tribute concert at the Grand Ole Opry in October 2022. The following month, he accepted the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the CMA Awards.

During his speech, he thanked Denise for her unwavering support over the years. “We started out as teenagers, and she’s hung in there and rode this roller-coaster ride with me for 40-something years now,” he said. “I’m probably not always the easiest person to love, but she’s hung in there and helped me through hard times, and we’ve shared great times. The good and the bad, the happy and the sad. We’ve survived a lot.”

Keep scrolling for everything Alan has said about his battle with CMT:

]]> Who is Alan Jackson? https://goodshepherdmedia.net/who-is-alan-jackson/ Fri, 17 Dec 2021 11:31:11 +0000 https://goodshepherdmedia.net/?p=9386 Alan Jackson
American singer-songwriter

Alan Jackson, (born October 17, 1958, Newnan, Georgia, U.S.), American country music singer-songwriter who was one of the most popular male country artists of the 1990s and early 21st century.

Jackson grew up in rural Georgia singing gospel music and performing, as a teenager, in a country duo. After dropping out of school and wedding his high-school sweetheart, Denise, Jackson worked odd jobs while playing with his band, Dixie Steel. After Denise, a flight attendant, happened upon country artist Glen Campbell in an airport in 1985, Jackson’s demo tape landed him a songwriting contract with Campbell’s music-publishing company. The couple subsequently moved to Nashville.

In 1989 Jackson became the first artist signed to the country division of Arista Records, and he released his debut album, Here in the Real World, that same year. Its hit title track, cowritten by Jackson with Mark Irwin, established the singer as a composer of songs that speak directly about the virtues of rural and small-town life, the vagaries of love, and the value of the country music traditions inherited from predecessors such as George Jones and Hank Williams. Jackson experienced further success with such honky-tonk-inspired albums as Don’t Rock the Jukebox (1991); A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ’Bout Love) (1992), which featured the hit single “Chattahoochee”; and Who I Am (1994).

A traditionalist in his musical approach, Jackson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1991, and he acknowledged his roots in 1999 on Under the Influence, an album featuring his interpretations of songs by artists such as Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, and Gene Watson. Jackson also recorded with Jones, George Strait, Randy Travis, and Jimmy Buffett, among others.

In response to the tragedy of the September 11 attacks in 2001, Jackson wrote a song that describes the range of reactions to the day’s events. “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” went on to win awards for song of the year from both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) as well as a Grammy Award for best country song. The song was included on Jackson’s 10th studio album, Drive (2002), along with “Drive (for Daddy Gene),” which paid tribute to his father.

In 2006 Jackson released two albums that were dominated by songs written by others—Precious Memories, a collection of 15 hymns, and the intimate Like Red on a Rose. Subsequent releases, such as Good Time (2008), Thirty Miles West (2012), The Bluegrass Album (2013), and Angels and Alcohol (2015), confirmed his enduring popularity. He teamed with the Zac Brown Band on the song “As She’s Walking Away” (2010), earning a share of the Grammy for best country collaboration with vocals in 2011. Jackson’s many industry awards include the CMA award for entertainer of the year in 1995, 2002, and 2003. In addition, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.

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