Philadelphia, PA

January 10, 1943

Born in Philadelphia in 1943, singer/songwriter Jim Croce worked the coffeehouse circuit for almost ten years before signing to ABC Records in 1971. His warm singing voice served him well on uptempo hits like "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and sincere ballads like "Operator." Croce's enormous pop success was cut short by his death in a plane crash while on tour in 1973, two months after his single "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (from Life and Times) reached the top of the charts. "Time in a Bottle" (from You Don't Mess Around with Jim) became a posthumous number one hit, and "I Got a Name" and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" reached the Top Ten. ~ William Ruhlmann