J.Robert Reflects on "Hero" Jimmy Buffett

News of Jimmy Buffett’s passing on September 1st was particularly upsetting for popular Marco Island musician J.Robert, who was actually the warm-up act for Buffett in the 1990s at the Marco Island Marriott.

“He was my hero,” said J.Robert, Marco Island’s 2016 Artist of the Year. “When they talk about his billion dollars, his big luxury liner, and all the Margaritaville stuff, they aren't even talking about the peripheral or collateral income that he's given guys like me up and down the beach, both coasts. Everybody's Jimmy Buffett, Jr. and they've made good. I've made a really good career of playing Jimmy Buffett songs and learning steel drums. And that's collateral, positive wealth for everybody.”

J.Robert didn’t even realize he was warming the crowd up for Buffett that night at the Marriott.

“We knew that they had a big activity inside,” J.Robert said, "but we had no idea. We were hired to go out there and do our little Jimmy Buffett shtick for an hour and then lead them inside with this steel drum. I said, 'Come on, follow us into the main ballroom.' We get there and they open the ballroom doors. We're tooting and doing all our acoustic stuff and all of a sudden it's Jimmy Buffett. It's the real Jimmy Buffett.”

J.Robert went on to have two other musical brushes with his hero over the years.

"He was just a regular guy,” J.Robert mused. "You can see that now that he's passed away. I can just tell you, if you look at every picture of him, he's always got a smile. That's my kind of guy."