Born September 1st, 1975, the Roanoke, VA native began playing drums at the age of 4, and occasionally took piano lessons from his mother and father in their home. Croan also picked up trumpet at 18, and guitar in his early adulthood, but his true love was always performing and recording as a singer. Croan started his singing career at 19 as a member of the acapella group Southern Comfort while studying at Washington & Lee University in 1994. After continuing his studies at the University of Virginia, Croan began performing with local bands in Charlottesville and became a singer for a Pink Floyd cover band.
In 1995, Croan encouraged his mother, Rene Marie, to start singing publicly. Her career blossomed quick;ly, leading to her receiving two Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2015 and 2017. During those years Michael shifted his focus, realizing that music was more than just a hobby in his life, but rather a necessity for his well-being.
He moved to Denver, Colorado, and became one of the lead singers for Celebration Nation Entertainment. After performing in Colorado for a while, he began to write incessantly, finding that his true passion was creating and performing original music.
At his mother Rene Marie's request, Michael was able to record his first original song "Deep In the Mountains" as a duet with the songstress on her album Black Lace Freudian Slip. It was during this time that Croan was able to work with countless accomplished musicians, including 2-time Grammy winner and 5-time Grammy nominee Quentin Baxter, Grammy nominated pianist Kevin Bales, and highly decorated blues violinist and guitarist Lionel Young, famously known as the first double champion of the International Blues Contest (IBC) in Memphis.
In 2014, Croan returned to Charlottesville, VA, and began putting an album together with the help of his long-time friend and business partner Charlie Jones. Croan started recording his first album, Soul Resurrection in 2016, working in concert with notable artist and producer Andy Waldeck of the bands Egypt and Earth to Andy. Croan also worked closely with Joe Lawlor, a guitarist, producer and longtime live recording engineer for the Dave Matthews Band. Croan has been fortunate enough to work with multiple respected artists like Dane Alderson, Kristen Rae Bowden, Davina Jackson, Derrick Decker, Shane Henderson, Alex Bragg, Carter Litvinas, Leigh Dick, Jonah Kane-West and many more.
Croan was honored to have his original song, "Deep In the Mountains," played all over the country by the United States Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, and was able to join the Blues Jazz Ensemble for a live show in the Oprah Winfrey Theatre at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in 2019. Directly thereafter, Croan was offered his first international tour, a 36-day, 25-show tour across Russia's 11 time zones. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled in 2020 and cancelled again in 2021 due to the Covid 19 epidemic.
Having now returned to his hometown of Roanoke, Croan is the founding member and lead singer of CroCo (Croan & Company), working with elite Roanoke-based musicians, including Brian and Ben Mesko, Casey Valleroy, Shavante Hughes and Terry Brown.
CroCo embodies Croan's eclectic, electric, enigmatic personality and style with heavy focus on his original material, with a nod to jazz and rock classics and a flair for the unconventional, keeping his audience members bouncing on their feet with good energy and great vibes.