Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash in Louisiana on 20 September 1973, aged 30, while touring his album Life And Times. His death cut short the career of a rapidly rising singer-songwriter whose storytelling and folk-influenced music had begun reaching a wide audience.

Croce’s breakthrough came with 1972’s You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, whose title track reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1973, “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” became his first US number-one single, while “Time In A Bottle” topped the charts after his death; his posthumous album I Got A Name reached No. 2.