Jimmy Buffett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Jimmy Buffett was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Musical Excellence Award for the class of 2024. Although he had been eligible since 1998, Buffett was never nominated for inclusion.

The singer-songwriter received the award posthumously Saturday night with an induction performance by fellow Class of 2024 student Dave Matthews, who sang a solo acoustic version of Buffett's 1974 song “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” “He made me feel really special,” Matthews said.

James Taylor introduced Buffett and remarked, “For so many of us, Jimmy was like a heroic figure in a Greek myth. His adventure was our adventure. We were able to share his great love for this life. He.” loved is Jimmy Buffett.

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“He was larger than life, but at the same time always the right size and always authentic. Jimmy was the self-made man and a poet, and there will be no other like him.”

Jimmy Buffett is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

To conclude his introduction, Taylor then appeared with Kenny Chesney and Mac McAnally in a performance of Buffett's “Come Monday.”

Buffett, who rose to fame in the 1970s with the hits “Margaritaville” and “Fins,” died on September 1, 2023 at the age of 76 from Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer that he had been diagnosed with four years earlier.

An album he was working on Equal load on all partswas released two months later and featured performances by Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

In April, a show called “Keep the Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett” was held in Los Angeles and featured McCartney, Eagles, Jon Bon Jovi and Jackson Browne.