26 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, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia, and attended Upper Darby High School.

Jim Croce received a Bachelor of Science in Social Studies degree in 1965.

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

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

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

Jim Croce married Jacobson in 1966, and converted 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 a week after his honeymoon.

Jim Croce, who was not good with authority, had to go through basic training twice.

Jim Croce said he would be prepared if "there's ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops".

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

Jim Croce was forced to take odd jobs such as driving trucks, construction work, and teaching guitar to pay the bills while continuing to write songs, often about the characters he would meet at the local bars and truck stops and his experiences at work; these provided the material for such songs as "Big Wheel" and "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues".

In 1970, Jim Croce met classically trained pianist-guitarist and singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey, through producer Joe Salviuolo.

Salviuolo and Jim Croce had been friends when they studied at Villanova University, and Salviuolo had met Muehleisen when he was teaching at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.

When Jim Croce and Ingrid discovered they were going to have a child, 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 get a record deal.

Also that year, the Jim Croce family moved to San Diego, California.

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

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

An hour before the crash, Jim 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.

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 it closed on December 31,2013.

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