Peter Buffett

Peter Andrew Buffett was born on May 4, 1958, in Omaha, Nebraska, the youngest child of investor Warren Buffett and Susan Thompson Buffett. He attended Omaha Central High School and later Stanford University. In the early 1980s, Buffett began his musical career in San Francisco after leaving Stanford. He invested proceeds from the sale of his grandfather’s farm into his music endeavors, initially focusing on recording and producing albums for local artists. A significant early career milestone came when he composed ad tunes for the newly launched MTV, a cultural phenomenon of the 1980s. He also composed commercials and logos for early cable television entities like CNN, establishing an early foundation in commercial music production.

Buffett transitioned from advertising to composing for film, signing with Narada Productions, a new-age music recording company, in 1987. His debut album, “The Waiting,” was released that year. A notable achievement during this period was scoring the “Fire Dance” scene in the critically acclaimed film “Dances with Wolves” (1990), which received an Academy Award for Best Original Score. His contributions to the film involved indigenous soundscapes, and he later collaborated with film score composer John Barry at Abbey Road Studios. He continued to release albums with Narada, including “One by One” (1989), “Lost Frontier” (1991), and “Yonnondio” (1992). In 1994, he signed with Epic Records and composed the soundtrack for the CBS miniseries “500 Nations,” produced by Kevin Costner. His score for the documentary “Wisconsin: An American Portrait” earned him a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for Best Soundtrack in 1999.

Beyond his musical achievements, Peter Buffett is recognized as an author and philanthropist. In 1998, his program “Spirit – A Journey in Dance Drums and Song” aired on PBS as a successful pledge special, later touring through 1999. In 2004, he updated this work into “Spirit – The Seventh Fire,” which premiered at the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. In 2006, he and his wife, Jennifer Buffett, co-founded the NoVo Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering girls and women and combating violence. His book, “Life Is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment,” published in May 2010 by Random House/Crown Publishing, became a New York Times bestseller, selling over half a million copies globally and translated into more than fifteen languages. Buffett frequently undertakes “Concert & Conversation” tours, sharing his life experiences and advocating for individual purpose and philanthropy.