James Joseph Croce ( January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973), popularly known as Jim Croce, was an American singer-songwriter. He began playing music in college, finally signing to ABC Records in 1972, releasing You Don't Mess Around With Jim and Life & Times that year. The singles "Time in a Bottle" (written for his newborn son, A.J., who is now an accomplished musician and songwriter in his own right), "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" and "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" helped the former album reach #1 on the charts in 1974. Jim was born into a Catholic family, but converted to Judaism upon his marriage to the former Ingrid Jacobson. He graduated on June 9, 1960 from Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. He was the first past student of the high school to earn a place on the school's Wall of Fame. The Wall of Fame was created by the school's DECA chapter. He was inducted in 1976. Croce attended Villanova University where he began to take his music seriously, forming a number of college bands. He graduated in 1965.
Croce died in a plane crash on September 20, 1973 in Natchitoches, Louisiana,one year and three days after his eldest daughter Heidieh was born and only days before releasing the third ABC album, I Got a Name. The plane crashed after the pilot reportedly suffered a massive heart attack in mid-air. The posthumous release included three hits, "I Got a Name," "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song". Several releases since have sold moderately well. Croce was interred in the Haym Saloman Memorial Park cemetery in Frazer, Pennsylvania.
Recently, his widow, Ingrid, was allowed to obtain from Jim's daughter Heidieh the permissions for all of his songs. Since then, she has allowed a PBS special to be made from archive footage as well as footage from the Croce family collection, in order to, in her words, "keep his legacy alive".