Singer’s widow throws caution to the wind and churns out a biography that is honest and revealing, but binded with warmth and love.

By Morgan M. Hurley| Downtown Editor

Jim and Ingrid Croce moved to San Diego with their young son A.J. just a few weeks before Jim’s untimely death in a plane crash in September 1973, the same day his hit single, “I Got A Name” was released.

After almost a decade of singing and songwriting, Croce was finally gaining notoriety through radio airplay of his singles, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” “Operator,” and “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown,” and was making up a short string of previously cancelled concerts at the time of the crash.

Since that fateful day, Ingrid and A.J. have both forged ahead and made names for themselves, too.  A.J. is a successful musician in his own right and runs his own label, Seedling Records, while Ingrid is a successful restaurant owner, artist and author.

Croce’s Restaurant has been a Downtown staple since first opening in 1985.  Through the years, fans have come from far and wide to see the singer’s memorabilia that adorns its walls and to experience Ingrid’s cooking, first hand. These days, Ingrid’s passion for art – which she initially put on hold for her late husband’s chance at fame – can also be seen on display throughout the restaurant.

In early July, “I Got A Name: The Jim Croce Story” – a book Ingrid and current husband Jimmy Rock initially drafted over 20 years ago – was released on Da Capo Press. With next year set to mark the 40th anniversary of Jim Croce’s death, the book was a long time coming for many fans – but according to Ingrid and Jimmy, it really couldn’t have been told any sooner than today.

“This was a joint project,” Ingrid said, referring to Rock from behind her desk at their Downtown office. “We started to write the book together because, what he realized was I would meet with people at the time [who] wanted to do a movie.

“They would meet with me and I would tell them my story. It would take time, it would take days. They’d come back and they’d put something in writing that had nothing to do with my story. And [Jimmy] heard this happen again and again.”

Frustrated, Ingrid said she finally asked Rock to help her write the book. “’This is serious stuff … a book about your first husband,’” Ingrid recalled Rock telling her. “He is a person people admire and love his music, I want to make sure we do this the right way and I’ve never written a book before.’”  She persisted, and soon Rock quit his law practice to help.

“Everybody [in Jim’s family] welcomed me in,” Rock said. “I recognized it was very necessary to do a good job.”

Rock is a musician, himself, but Jim Croce’s memory was larger than life. He readily admits today the task was a bit daunting at first.

“All of Jim’s friends and family, they really idolized Jim,” he said. “He was definitely a star to them before he ever became a star. He had that personality, evidently. I never met him but I feel like I knew him. For me, there was a real personal involvement.”

Rock credits singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, a close friend of Croce’s who later wrote the book’s forward, with setting his mind at ease about the project.

“’You know, you’re given the jobs you’re supposed to have,’” Rock recalled Guthrie telling him twenty-four years before. “That really helped me, honestly.”

With friends and family all onboard and on the record, the next challenge became the publishing houses.

“It took us four years to write it and then we put the book away,” Ingrid said. “They wanted us to write something that wasn’t really what the book was about.”

“They wanted something glitzy, I would say,” Rock interjected. “More rock and roll.”

“And that’s not what this book is about,” Ingrid replied. Their decision to set the book aside ended up being the right thing to do, for many reasons. “I wasn’t ready to tell the story, because I didn’t really understand my own story.”

Even though they had shelved the text over two decades before, the couple affirms they were always working through aspects of it over the years. Ironically, it wasn’t until they finally dusted off that first draft to revisit the text about 18 months ago, that Ingrid herself fully understood the journey that she, and Jim Croce, had traveled.

“Here we are 24 years later, and when we went back to do the book again, I recognized that we wanted to put it in not only the omnipotent point of view, but my voice was important, too. In going through that it was like reliving it. It never rang true to me until [then].”

The finished product does not shy away from the challenges or struggles that this young couple endured as they embarked on a life together, the pitfalls of the music business, or what it was like to be a woman in the early 1970s.

Readers will find Jim and Ingrid Croce imperfect at times, but also passionate, driven and real human beings. As such, their story is as simple as it is complicated, endearing and at times surprisingly revealing; but their lives are always relatable and their story is captured with honesty and a great deal of love.

“This is such a gift to be able to really do this book in a way that is really fair to Jim, to me, to Jimmy, because we really spent an enormous amount of time.  Jimmy recognized [Joseph Campbell’s] the hero’s journey immediately,” Ingrid said.

“That’s the approach we took on it, because there is that whole arc of the story there, with redemption,” Rock said. “Once I recognized that Ingrid received this letter from Jim after he died … there is the redemption of the hero’s journey, right there.”

Editor’s Note: Campbell conceptualized his stages of the “monomyth / hero’s journey” in his 1949 book, “Hero of a Thousand Faces.” The 17 stages identify the steps an individual (“the hero”) takes through their life-span (the “arc”) and labels the challenges along the way. It has long been said that this arc can be found throughout the history of both literature and film. The Shawshank Redemption and Star Wars are two popular current-day films where the arc of the hero’s journey can be easily identified. 

Ingrid said she and Rock studied Campbell’s work extensively over the years and it helped them piece things together.

“I could not have done this without Jimmy Rock. It would not have been the story it is, and the discovery it was and the journey it was. And it was a wonderful journey.”

“I’ve Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story” is available on DeCapo Books at local bookstores, Croce’s Restaurant, online at Amazon and at www.croces.com.

Ingrid and Jimmy have two book signings this month: Wednesday, August 22 at 7 p.m. Barnes and Noble in Mira Mesa, and Thursday, August 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Bay Books in Coronado. For more information, visit croces.com  or stop by the restaurant.