Jim Croce

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James Joseph Croce (January 10, 1943-September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter.

Croce released five studio albums and many singles between 1966 and 1973. His first two albums were commercially ineffective, with no attempt to chart or produce any hit singles.

Croce took a string of odd jobs to pay bills during the time he continued to write, record, and perform concerts.

His fortunes changed in the early 1970s after forming a friendship with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen.

His breakthrough came in 1972; his third album You Don't Mess Around With Jim produced three charting singles, including "Time in a Bottle," which debuted at No.1 after his death.

The album "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" was the only No.1 hit he had during his lifetime, according to Life and Times. Croce and five others were killed in a plane crash the day before his lead single to his fifth album, I Got a Name, was announced.

Following Croce's death, his music remained to chart in the 1970s.

Ingrid Croce, his father's first songwriting partner, died before his death, and his son A.J.Croce himself became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.

Early life

Croce was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to James Albert Croce (April 14, 1914 – December 22, 2000), and Flora Mary (Babusci) Croce, an Italian American from Trasacco and Palermo in Sicily.

Croce grew up in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia, and attended Upper Darby High School. He attended Malvern Preparatory School for a year before enrolling at Villanova University, where he majored in psychology and minored in German. In 1965, Croce obtained a Bachelor of Science in Social Studies. He was a member of the Villanova Spires and the Villanova Spires. The Spires were known as the Coventry Lads when they appeared off-campus or made recordings. Croce was also a student disc jockey at WKVU, which has since been renamed WXVU.

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Career

Croce didn't take music seriously until he attended Villanova, where he formed bands and performed at fraternity parties, coffeehouses, and universities around Philadelphia, performing "anything" that the audience wanted to hear: blues, rock, cappella, railroad music, and march music. "Anything" could be interpreted as something. The Croce's band was selected for an international exchange tour of Africa, the Middle East, and Yugoslavia. "We just ate what the people ate, lived in the woods, and performed our songs," the singer later said. Well, they didn't speak English over there, but if you mean what you're singing, people are aware." Croce's future wife, Ingrid Jacobson, arrived at the Philadelphia Convention Hall on November 29, 1963, where he was judging a contest.

In 1966, Croce released Facets, his first album, with 500 copies being printed. The album had been funded by a $500 ($4,176) wedding donation from Croce's parents, who had agreed that the money must be spent to make an album. They hoped that after the album's demise, he'd give up music, and that his college education would help them pursue a "respectable" career. However, the album was a hit, with every copy of the album selling.

Croce married Jacobson in 1966 and converted to Judaism as his wife was Jewish. Ingrid and He were married in a Jewish wedding in a traditional Jewish ceremony. He enlisted in the Army National Guard in New Jersey the same year to prevent being drafted and deployed to Vietnam and spent four months on active service, a week after his honeymoon. Croce, who was not an authority, had to go through basic training twice. If "ever a war where we have to protect ourselves with mops," he said, he'd be prepared."

Croce performed with his wife as a pair from the mid-1960s to the 1970s. They performed songs by artists such as Ian & Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Arlo Guthrie, but they began writing their own songs at first. Croce's first long-term job at The Riddle Paddock, a suburban bar and steakhouse in Lima, Pennsylvania, took place during this period. His set list of blues, country, rock and roll, and folk.

The Croces were invited by record producer Tommy West to New York City in 1968. The pair spent time in the Bronx's Kingsbridge neighborhood and released their first album with Capitol Records. They rode more than 300,000 miles (480,000 km) on the college concert circuit, promoting their album Jim & Ingrid Croce.

They sold all but one guitar to pay the rent and returned to the Pennsylvania countryside, buying in an old farm in Lyndell, where he played for $25 a night ($174 in 2021 dollars) but there was still no money to live on, becoming disillusioned by the music industry and New York City. Croce was forced to write songs like "Big Wheel" and "Workin" at the Car Wash Blues, because the characters he'd encounter at the local bars and truck stops; these included odd jobs such as driving trucks, designing, and teaching guitar to pay the bills.

The Croces returned to Philadelphia and Croce determined that being a contributing member of society would be "serious." "I'd been building crews and I'd been a welder while I was in college," I'd said. "I'd rather do other things than get burned," says the narrator. His determination to be "serious" culminated in a career at a Philadelphia R&B AM radio station, where he converted commercials into "soul." "I'd sell airtime to Bronco's Poolroom and then write the spot: "You want to be cool, and you wanna shoot the pool."

Maury Muehleisen, a classically trained pianist-guitarist and singer-songwriter from Trenton, New Jersey, was introduced by producer Joe Salviuolo in 1970. Salviuolo and Croce were classmates when they first arrived at Villanova University, and Salviuolo had known Muehleisen when he began teaching at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. Salviuolo brought Croce and Muehleisen together at the production company of Tommy West and Terry Cashman in New York City. Croce first supported Muehleisen on guitar but then their roles changed, with Muehleisen adding a lead guitar to Croce's music.

Croce's husband, Jim Croce, was more determined to make music his profession than he did. In the hopes of a record contract, he gave a cassette of his latest songs to a friend and producer in New York City. When their son Adrian James (A.J.) was born, they were stunned. Ingrid was born in September 1971 and became a stay-at-home mom while Jim went out on the road to market his music.

Croce signed to ABC Records in 1972, releasing two albums, Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times. All of Jim's singles, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim," "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels), and "Time in a Bottle," were among the songs that received airplay. The Croce family immigrated to San Diego, California, in the same year. Croce debuted on television, including his national debut on American Bandstand on August 12, The Tonight Show on August 20, and The Dick Cavett Show on September 20 and 21.

Croce first appeared in large coffee houses, on college campuses, and at folk festivals. However, his financial situation remained fragile. The record company had fronted him the money, but a significant portion of his income was used to pay the advance. Croce and Muehleisen traveled to Europe in February 1973, appearing in London, Paris, Monte Carlo, Zurich, and Dublin and receiving rave reviews. Croce co-hosted The Midnight Special on June 15, and The Helen Reddy Show on July 19. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," Croce's most popular single, reached No. 1 on the American charts in July.

Croce and Muehleisen performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test in London, where they performed "Lover's Cross" and "Workin" from their forthcoming album "I Got a Name." Croce's album was released just a week before his death. While on tour, he became increasingly home sick and decided to take a break from music to live with Ingrid and A.J. When his Life and Times tour came to an end, he says. Croce told Ingrid that after his death, he had to abandon music and concentrate on short stories and movie scripts as a career and remove from public life.

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