...was the 1973 death, at age 30, of the prodigal song story-teller Jim Croce. Croce's was a brief, shining life. He burst onto the pop music scene in 1966. Seven years later he was dead in a plane crash.
A sensitive, introspective man, but one who saw humor in life, Croce was born in South Philadelphia and graduated from Villanova University. He wrote his songs from his experience. He enrolled in the New Jersey National Guard to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam war. "Croce, who tended to resist authority, endured basic training twice", Wikipedia tells us, and so had twice the opportunity to meet characters such as Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and Don't Mess Around with Jim (Walker). He sang poignantly of thwarted love in Operator, and proudly of his identity in I've Got a Name.
Croce's dates are Jan. 10, 1943 and Sept. 20, 1973, so this commemoration is not time-bound. Because Jim Croce is timeless. He was a supernova who literally crashed and burned too young.
