Jim Croce's Story Revealed in New Book

[Shadow]

It's hard to believe that one of rock's most tragic tales – the untimely death of Jim Croce – has never been told faithfully in book form. This changed with the recent release of I Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story – written by the late singer-songwriter's widow, Ingrid Croce, with her current husband, Jimmy Rock. Published by Da Capo Press, the book paints an extremely revealing portrait of the musician behind the hits "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)," and "Time in a Bottle," who died at the age of 30 in a plane crash.

The book has been a long time coming; initial work began 25 years ago, but when an earlier publisher and Ingrid didn't see eye-to-eye, the manuscript was shelved. "Last year, we took out the book, and it was time," Ingrid tells Rolling Stone. "It was overdue for many fans who kept asking for it. We read it and we felt really pretty good about it. The story was there."

"It was a painful story to tell. It wasn't easy to make it a story that you could put in what was there, but also still make sure the fans felt good with the story, and I feel that Jimmy and I were able to do that," she adds. "I feel we captured Jim Croce the best we possibly could. The thing about Jim that was wonderful was he was so funny and charismatic. [Readers] will know who Jim Croce was. They'll know things they certainly never knew, and that's important for them to learn 'the round' Jim Croce – not the flat, two-dimensional one."

http://music.yahoo.com/news/jim-croc...201539929.html

[Abbey Marie]

I had heard a long time ago that Croce wasn't really around his family much.

[Kathianne]

I had heard a long time ago that Croce wasn't really around his family much.

Probably true. How many young men at that that time, beginning their careers had 'family time?' He died nearly a decade before I married. My ex was not home much due to work, while I held down the home front.

[Shadow]

I remember watching an interview with his wife once. She talked about how he was a private person that had trouble expressing himself verbally and didn't really discuss things. An interesteting contrast to how he could express himself wonderfully through music.

Sad that he died so young and never got to know his son. Would have been interesting to see where he would have gone with his music career also.

[Anton Chigurh]

I remember watching an interview with his wife once. She talked about how he was a private person that had trouble expressing himself verbally and didn't really discuss things. An interesteting contrast to how he could express himself wonderfully through music.

Sad that he died so young and never got to know his son. Would have been interesting to see where he would have gone with his music career also.

He sent such a message to his wife through this one: