EMI Music Publishing completes agreement for Jim Croce songwriting catalog

Dec 13, 2007

EMI Music Publishing today announced that it has completed an exclusive publishing agreement for the songwriting catalog of Jim Croce.

The deal with Croce’s heirs Ingrid and A.J. Croce gives EMI Music Publishing the North American administration rights to the compositions of the late singer-songwriter. Croce’s classic catalog includes songs such as Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels), Time In A Bottle and I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song.

EMI Music Publishing chairman and CEO Roger Faxon said: “Jim Croce had that rare ability to write and perform both upbeat and heartfelt songs, and his music is still as engaging and memorable today as it was more than thirty years ago. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Ingrid and AJ Croce to connect his timeless songs with the music users of today.”

Ingrid Croce commented: “EMI Music Publishing has a reputation for excellence and the people we are working with are passionate about Jim Croce’s songs. A.J. and I are encouraged that EMI will help us reach a new and diversified audience for Jim’s music and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship.”

Jim Croce recorded his first album Jim & Ingrid Croce as part of a duo with his wife in 1968. His debut solo album came in 1972, when he signed to ABC Records and released both You Don’t Mess Around With Jim and Life & Times in the same year. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown was an American number one hit in the summer of 1973, and went on to sell two million copies in the US alone. Croce died tragically in a plane crash in September 1974, shortly before the release of his third studio album I Got A Name. Jim Croce was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame in 1990, and his music continues to be performed by numerous artists and receive widespread airplay across the world to this day.

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