He was a notorious figure who once ruled the mean streets of Chicago. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown was feared by many until a fateful encounter changed everything. But what's truly fascinating is that this larger-than-life character was no mere legend - he was actually a real person. Inspired by a friend of famous singer-songwriter Jim Croce, who died far too young. The story of Jim Croce’s classic 70s hit Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, the man all the women called “treetop lover,” and all men called “sir,” out of total fear is NEXT on Professor of Rock.

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you remember getting up at the crack of dawn to watch Saturday morning cartoons You’re going to love this channel of deep musical nostalgia make sure to subside below right now. We also have a Patreon.

I often wonder how the career of Jim Croce would’ve evolved if he hadn’t been killed in that preventable plane crash when he was just 30 years old. There was so much left for Jim to do with his life.
His star was at its zenith at the time of his death, when “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Just two months before the tragedy. Even with his career soaring, there is evidence that Jim wanted to either quit the record business, altogether, or take a long hiatus. After Jim’s death, his wife, Ingrid, received a letter Jim had written to her, postmarked just a few days before his death, indicating that his weariness with the hectic lifestyle of a popular musician had him contemplating a career change, one that allowed him to spend more time with his family. Jim’s letter ended with a tearjerking message to Ingrid: “Remember…it’s the first 60 years that count, and I’ve got 30 to go….I love you.” Wow, that is heartbreaking.

Jim may have shocked his fans & just called it quits, halting tours, record releases, promo appearances, and all the other chores that go with staying relevant as a professional musician. But, if he would’ve stay with it, even after taking a few years off to be with Ingrid and his son, A.J., Jim Croce, in just a few short years, was on a trajectory of becoming one of the most beloved, and influential artists of the Rock Era There were many qualities of Jim Croce that connected him so deeply with his fans. First and foremost, his songs were relatable. He had a gift of tapping into the beautiful simplicity of human experience and turning that experience into something special and powerful. Realism was the foundation of his lyrics. Nothing fancy… nothing pretentious or preachy. Jim Croce’s songs were honest, perceptive, and introspective:

There was a little bit of all of us in Jim Croce’s songs, that’s why they resonated so personally with us. Sometimes the songs were about what he was going through in his own life, and sometimes he would write about someone that he knew that made a strong impression on him. One of those characters was a man he met in the military, named Leroy Brown. Leroy Brown was a mountain of a man, that everyone in the regiment feared. You did NOT want to get on the wrong side of Leroy, or you would be in a world of hurt. When Jim went down to Fort Jackson in South Carolina, he met a fellow guardsmen he liked immediately.