Jimmy Buffett had been fighting skin cancer for 4 years before his death

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett had been fighting skin cancer for four years prior to his death, his official website has revealed. 

Buffett had Merkel Cell skin cancer. He died Friday at the age of 76 at his home in Sag Harbor, Long Island, surrounded by family, friends, and his dogs. 

His official cause of death has not been revealed. 

Merkel Cell skin cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a rare but aggressive type of skin cancer "that usually appears as a flesh-colored or bluish-red nodule" on the face, neck or head. 

According to his website, Buffett "continued to perform during treatment, playing his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July." Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized but provided no specifics.

Buffett popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song "Margaritaville" and turned that celebration of loafing into a billion-dollar empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions. 

Buffett is survived by his wife of 46 years, his daughters, son, a grandson, other relatives, and a pack of dogs.