Jim Croce

James Joseph Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973), popularly known as Jim Croce, was an American singer-songwriter.

Early life

He graduated from Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania in 1960 and in 1976 was the first former student to be added to the high school's Wall of Fame. Then, while attending Villanova University ('65 graduate), Croce became interested in becoming a professional musician and met his future wife, Ingrid, at a hootenany at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, where he was a judge for the contest.

Early career

During the early sixties, Jim formed a number of college bands and performed at coffee houses and universities, and later with his wife Ingrid as a duo in the mid-sixties to early seventies. At first their performances included songs by Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie, but in time they began writing their own music, such as “Age”, “Hey Tomorrow”, and “Spin, Spin Spin” which later led to Jim’s hit songs in the early seventies.

At the same time, Croce got his first long-term gig at a rural bar and steak house in Lima, Pennsylvania, called the Riddle Paddock. Here, over the next few years, Jim developed a very engaging rapport with tough audiences and built his musical repertoire to over 3,000 songs. His set list included every genre from blues to country, rock & roll to folk, with tender love songs and traditional Bawdy Ballads, always introduced with a story and an impish grin.

In 1968, Jim and Ingrid Croce were encouraged to move to New York City to record their first album with Capital Records. For the next two years, they drove over 300,000 miles playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit promoting their album Jim and Ingrid Croce.

Then, disillusioned by the music business and New York City, Jim sold all but one guitar to pay the rent, and they returned to the Pennsylvania countryside where Jim got a job driving trucks and doing construction to pay the bills. He called this his “Character Development Period” and spent a lot of his time sitting in the cab of a truck, composing songs about his buddies and the folks he enjoyed meeting at the local bars and truck stops.

Success

In 1970, Jim met classically trained pianist/guitarist, singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey. Initially, Croce backed Maury on guitar at his gigs. But in time, their musical strengths led them each to new heights. Maury’s ethereal and inspired guitar leads became the perfect accompaniment to Jim’s down-to-earth music.

In 1972, Jim Croce signed to a three record deal with ABC Records releasing You Don't Mess Around With Jim and Life & Times in the same year. The singles "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)" and "Time In A Bottle" (written for his newborn son, A. J. Croce) helped the former album reach #1 on the charts in 1974. Jim’s biggest single "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", hit number 1 on the US charts in the summer of 1973, selling two million copies.

Sudden death

Croce, 30, and Muehleisen, 24, died in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973 in Natchitoches, Louisiana one day before releasing his third ABC album, I Got A Name. The posthumous release included three hits, "I Got A Name," "Workin' At The Car Wash Blues" and "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song."

Musical legacy

In 1990, Jim Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In the late 1990s, Ingrid Croce, Jim's widow, and their son, A.J. Croce obtained the publishing rights for all of Jim Croce's catalog of songs. Since then Ingrid and A.J. Croce have released Jim Croce Home Recordings, Facets, Jim Croce: Classic Hits, and the first ever DVD of Jim's television performances on "Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live," with their most recent release this past January, 2006 of a CD of the same title. Ingrid and A.J. Croce also co-produced a PBS special, with archive footage from the Croce family collection, along with excerpts of their DVD "Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live."

In 1985, Ingrid Croce opened Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar, located in the historic Gaslamp District in San Diego, California, partially as a tribute to her late husband.

Quotes

His personal motto: "If you dig it, do it. If you dig it a lot, do it twice."

Samples

TimeinaBottle.ogg of "Time in a Bottle"

External links

Jim Croce | Jim Croce | Jim Croce

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