Jimmy Buffett translated his easygoing Gulf Coast persona into more than just a successful recording career -- he expanded into clothing, nightclubs, and literature. But the basis of the business empire that keeps him on the ~Fortune magazine list of highest-earning entertainers is his music.
Buffett moved to Nashville to try to make it in country music in the late '60s. Signed to Barnaby, he released one album, Down to Earth (1970), from which the socially conscious single "The Christian?" suggested he might be more at home protesting in Greenwich Village.