Jimmy Buffett, 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, coined 'Parrothead' in Cincinnati
Jimmy Buffett, the late "Margaritaville" singer with several ties to Cincinnati, was bestowed an honor from another Ohio city over the weekend.
Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has included Buffett among its 2024 inductees, honoring the singer posthumously with the musical excellence award. He's joined by MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield in the non-voted category.
The tropical rock legend died at 76 years old in September 2023 from Merkel cell skin cancer.
However, a brief dive into Buffett's history shows that his legacy lives on in Ohio, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and beyond.
The term 'Parrothead' originated in Cincinnati
Buffett coined the term “Parrothead” while performing at a 1985 Cincinnati concert.
During the show at Timberwolf Amphitheatre at Kings Island, Timothy Schmit, a former member of Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, noticed fans wearing parrot hats and Hawaiian shirts. He called them Parrotheads, a nod to the moniker for die hard Grateful Dead fans: Deadheads.
The singer, who was a mainstay at Cincinnati's Riverbend Music Center, makes a reference to the Queen City in his song "Fins." In it, he sings about a woman who "came down from Cincinnati … lookin' for some peace and quiet" who finds herself surrounded by guys at the bar – "land sharks."
Buffett made Cincinnati a regular stop on his tours
In 1993, he performed five consecutive nights, drawing 92,000 fans, according to a Cincinnati Post article at the time. Cincinnati was a "Parrothead petri dish," the article said, and other cities couldn't match its enthusiasm for the musician.
Buffett played 54 shows over the course of 35 years at Riverbend Music Center.
“Jimmy Buffett became synonymous with summer in Cincinnati,” Rosemarie Moehring, director of marketing for Riverbend's parent company Music & Event Management, Inc., told the Enquirer. “It was something people looked forward to every year.”
Moehring said there was nothing surprising about "Parrothead" originating in Cincinnati.
“People looked forward to and planned for concerts,” Moehring said. “He brought people together. His music made you feel good.”
The ceremony to honor the new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class will take place Oct. 19 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland and stream live on Disney+ (Hulu the next day) with an airing on ABC at a later date. Ticket information for the show is forthcoming.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: More on Jimmy Buffett's Cincinnati ties as he joins Rock & Roll Hall of Fame