JAMES JOSEPH CROCE AKA JIM CROCE, 'I GOT A NAME'

Today, The Grandma has been listening to some music. She has chosen Jim Croce's songs, who died on a day like today in 1973.

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

Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pay bills while he continued to write, record, and perform concerts. After he formed a partnership with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen, his fortunes turned in the early 1970s.

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 reached No. 1 after his death. The follow-up album, Life and Times, included the song Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, which was the only No. 1 hit he had during his lifetime.

On September 20, 1973, at the height of his popularity and the day before the lead single to his fifth album I Got a Name was released, Croce and five others died in a plane crash. His music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death. Croce's wife Ingrid was his early songwriting partner. She continued to write and record after his death and their son A. J. Croce became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.

More information: Jim Croce

Croce was born January 10, 1943, (although some sources say 1942) in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to James Albert Croce and Flora Mary (Babusci) Croce, Italian Americans from Trasacco and Balsorano in Abruzzo and Palermo in Sicily.

Croce grew up in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and attended Upper Darby High School. Graduating in 1960, he studied at Malvern Preparatory School for a year before enrolling at Villanova University, where he majored in psychology and minored in German.

Croce received a Bachelor of Science in Social Studies degree in 1965. He was a member of the Villanova Singers and the Villanova Spires. When the Spires performed off-campus or made recordings, they were known as The Coventry Lads.

Croce was also a student disc jockey at WKVU, which has since become WXVU.

On the night of Thursday, September 20, 1973, during Croce's Life and Times tour and the day before his ABC single I Got a Name was released, Croce and five others were killed when their chartered Beechcraft E18S crashed into a tree during takeoff from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Croce was 30 years old. Others killed in the crash were pilot Robert N. Elliott, Croce's bandmate Maury Muehleisen, comedian George Stevens, manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortese, and road manager Dennis Rast. An hour before the crash, Croce had completed a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches; he was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College.

Croce was buried at Haym Salomon Memorial Park in Frazer, Pennsylvania.

More information: Song Facts

 There's something about approaching universal truths
with the simplicity of the acoustic guitar.
You can take it anywhere,
and it helps me reach listeners of all ages and walks of life.

Jim Croce