Jimmy Buffett’s daughter has paid a moving tribute to her father, days after the singer-songwriter passed away after a 4-year battle with skin cancer.
“I have known my father all my life, but in his final days I saw who he was: a man whose spirit could not be broken,” Delaney Buffett wrote on Instagram Wednesday.
“Despite the pain, he smiled every day. He was nice when he had every excuse not to be. He told us not to be sad or scared, but to keep celebrating. And even if I ‘d like to use that as an excuse to get drunk into oblivion worthy of his literary heroes, I know that’s not what he meant,” she continued. “Yes, he loved his weed and his wine, but the truth is that most of the time he was just crazy about life, and that’s what he wanted for everyone: to enjoy the fantastic journey that life maybe.”
Buffett died Friday at the age of 76 from a rare and aggressive skin cancer called Merkel cell cancer, according to a statement on his website, which adds that he died peacefully surrounded by “his family , his friends, his music and his dogs”.
Delaney Buffett remembers him as “the hardest working person” she has ever seen and called him a great father to her and her siblings. She recalled how generous he was to friends and strangers and said he “had a deep admiration for the people he worked with”.
The stage was “her home,” she said, writing that her fans, her band and “everyone on the road gave her the strength to keep going back.”
“I’ll pass on something my mom told me: ‘Whenever you feel sad or lost, look for the messages in his music. There are plenty of them.'”
The two-time Grammy nominee, who has called his music “drunk Caribbean rock ‘n’ roll,” is best known for his 1977 song “Margaritaville,” which rocketed him to national fame. Also among his catalog of songs is “Delaney Talks to Statues”, which he wrote for his daughter. He also turned his vibe into a business venture, launching restaurants, clothing lines and more.
Delaney concluded his message by thanking his doctors and nurses “for giving us more time together”, as well as his family and friends “for reminding me of the importance of human connections”.
“And finally, to my dad, thank you. You turned nothing into something and gave it all to me,” she wrote. “I will never be able to thank you or my mom for my beautiful life. I will love you forever and always keep the party going (responsibly, of course).”
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