Jim Croce

Looking for Jim Croce chords? We got them all! The American singer-songwriter Jim Croce was born James Joseph Croce in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in early 1943. Both of his parents were from Italian descent. They played young Jim country and ragtime music and supplied him with an accordion. The musically gifted Croce was able to play his first song on the instrument when he was only five years old. Later during his youth, he took up the guitar, which was to become his instrument of choice. While studying psychology at university, Croce began to truly engage with music, forming multiple bands and performing at, among other, fraternity parties and coffee houses. In 1966, he married his wife Ingrid and received a $500 wedding gift from his parents, who demanded he would use the money to produce an album. In fact, they hoped the album would be a failure and Croce would give up on having a music career. Unfortunately for them, all 500 copies pressed of the album, Facets, were sold.

Jim & Ingrid

During the latter half of the 60s, Croce performed at local bars and parties, forming a duo with his wife Ingrid. Initially, they played songs by other musicians like Joan Baez and Gordon Lightfoot, but later began writing their own music. After a while, the couple decided to try their luck in New York City and resettled there in 1968. A year later they recorded an album, Jim & Ingrid Croce, issued by Capitol Records. Although the duo toured extensively to promote the album, it failed to sell. Disillusioned, the two of them moved back to the Pennsylvania countryside. They kept performing at local venues, but as this did not generate enough funds to sustain them, Croce had to take several jobs on the side, including construction work and driving trucks. Albeit far from glamorous, his work experiences provided him with ample material for his songs and helped him shape into the blue-collar artist he is remembered as.

Breakthrough and untimely death

In 1970, Croce partnered up with Maury Muehleisen, a fellow guitarist and songwriter he met through a befriended producer. The collaboration gave new impulses to his musical aspirations and, especially after his son Adrian James was born, Croce became more determined in pursuing a music career. In 1972, he signed a record deal with ABC Records and released the album You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. The record meant his breakthrough and produced three hit singles, including the title track which is a timeless piece of work. Interested to learn which chords Jim Croce used on this track? You will find them below! The Croce family subsequently moved to California and Jim made several television appearances. A second album, Life And Times, was released in 1973. Its lead single, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”, topped the charts. Later that same year while touring, Croce tragically died in a plane crash. All five other passengers, including his musical partner Maury Muehleisen, also perished. Although his promising career ended in its infancy, the folk sound, accommodating upbeat, as well as melancholic chords that Jim Croce produced keeps attracting fans until this very day.