25 Facts About Jim Croce

James Joseph Croce was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter.

Jim Croce's music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death.

Jim Croce grew up in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, seven miles west of Philadelphia, and attended Upper Darby High School, where he graduated in 1960.

Jim Croce then attended Malvern Preparatory School for a year prior to enrolling at Villanova University, where he majored in psychology and minored in German.

Jim Croce was a member of the campus singing groups the Villanova Singers and the Villanova Spires.

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

Jim Croce did not take music seriously until he studied at Villanova, where he became a leader of the Villanova Singers, formed bands, and performed at fraternity parties, coffeehouses, and universities around Philadelphia.

Jim Croce released his first album, Facets, in 1966, with 500 copies pressed.

Jim Croce married Jacobson in 1966 and converted from Catholicism to Judaism, as his wife was Jewish.

Jim Croce enlisted in the Army National Guard in New Jersey that same year to avoid being drafted and deployed to Vietnam, and served on active duty for four months, leaving for duty one week after his honeymoon.

Jim Croce, who tended to resist authority, endured basic training twice.

Jim Croce's set list covered several genres, including blues, country, rock and roll, and folk.

In 1970, Jim Croce met classically trained pianist-guitarist and singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen through producer Joe Salviuolo, a friend of Jim Croce's since college.

When his wife became pregnant, Jim Croce became more determined to make music his profession.

Jim Croce sent a cassette of his new songs to a friend and producer in New York City in the hope that he could secure a record deal.

That same year, the Jim Croce family moved to San Diego.

Jim Croce began touring the United States with Muehleisen, performing in large coffeehouses, on college campuses, and at folk festivals.

Jim Croce finished recording the album just a week before his death.

The crash occurred an hour after Jim Croce had finished a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches.

Jim Croce had an ATP certificate, 14,290 hours' total flight time, and 2,190 hours in the Beech 18 type airplane.

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

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

Jim Croce owned and managed it until its closure on December 31,2013.

In December 2013, Ingrid Jim Croce opened another restaurant, Jim Croce's Park West, on 5th Avenue in the Bankers Hill neighborhood near Balboa Park.

In 2022, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker honoring Jim Croce was installed outside his farmhouse in Lyndell.