Jim Croce

Back in the early 70s, there was a voice which sang of rejection, regret, and human nature - a voice that was silenced much too early. Jim Croce started out his career by playing old favorites written by such artists as Woody Guthrie. When he discovered his own lyrical voice though, he started to use it and he used it brilliantly. He produced several albums with songs that always featured his unique vocal style with a well developed acoustic guitar sound in the background.

He sang about people falling out of love, people holding on to love with all their will, and perhaps most powerfully of people holding on to their identities in the increasingly complicated world. In other words, he was singing about human nature. The way he put things into words made him a unique voice in an ever changing landscape of music, and that voice still resonates to this day. One of his most well know songs, "I Got A Name", is all about the sense of identity that one man has and strives to hold on to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9hYpM0o7x8.
Many other songs of his should be classics as well, including "These Dreams", a powerful song about heartbreak and regret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bA1j8quV64&playnext=1&list=PL745D8628B12B0C23. I especially like the line "What came between us? Maybe we were just too young to know...". So great.

And who knows how far he could have made it? His life was cut short in a terrible plane accident, and so he died in his prime the same way Buddy Holly, another musical pioneer, did. He left the world with wise words and wonderful music that will hopefully live on for a very long time.