Keith Urban honoured the one and only Jimmy Buffett while performing in New Jersey on Saturday night (2 September), sharing video footage of his tribute on Instagram.
“I want to just take a second to acknowledge the passing of an incredible musician... Jimmy Buffett,” Urban began, “I was shocked to hear about that.”
Recalling a dinner date between him and his wife Nicole Kidman with Buffett and his wife Jane Slagsvol, Urban continued, “I was immediately thinking about a time that we got to go down to St. Barts, and we got an [invitation] from Jimmy to go and have dinner with him and his wife.
“When we were down there, Jimmy said to me, ‘Man, you should grab your guitar. There’s a bar in town, and I’m sure if we take our guitars, they’ll let us sit in.’ So, here’s me and Jimmy carrying our guitars down the street in St. Barts, and we go to this cool bar, and we sang a couple of songs.”
“Such an honour to know him and a huge loss, but an incredible legacy of music he’s left behind.”
Urban further paid tribute to Jimmy Buffett by performing Come Monday – he revealed that was the first song he learned on guitar – and, of course, Margaritaville. Urban concluded the night's tribute by shouting, “I love you, Jimmy Buffett!” You can watch the footage below.
Yacht rock pioneer Jimmy Buffett passed away after a battle with skin cancer. The singer’s death was revealed on his website, while sources close to Buffett revealed the cause of death to TMZ.
The skin cancer diagnosis reportedly turned into lymphoma. A source told the publication, “He lived his life in the sun, literally and figuratively.”
Last month, Urban received the news that he’ll be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame on Wednesday, 11 October.
Urban will enter the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame alongside Kix Brooks, of Brooks & Dunns fame, and fellow songwriters Casey Beathard, David Lee Murphy and Rafe Van Hoy.
Urban said in a statement to The Tennessean, a subsidiary of USA Today, about his “surreal” induction: “It was a shock to get the call to find out I was nominated. I was standing at the back of Sound Stage (Studios) when I got the call looking across at where Shoney's (Inn) used to be ... which was where I stayed when I first came to Nashville in 1989.”