Facets-Jim Croce

Here we have someone whose 1966 debut album release was barely noticed. It would, in fact, be another few years before Jim Croce made his mark.

From Wikipedia:

Facets is a self-published album by American singer-songwriter Jim Croce, released in 1966. (See 1966 in music). Croce had five hundred copies of the album pressed, financed with a $500 cash wedding gift that he and his wife to be, Ingrid Croce, received from his parents. Croce's parents were certain that when Jim would fail completely at selling the record, and, realizing that couldn't support his family as a singer, he would abandon music and finish his college education. To their surprise, he not only sold every last record but also turned a profit of almost $2500. The majority of those records were sold at Croce's shows. Original vinyl copies of Facetsare extremely rare today; well-preserved copies are known to fetch as much as $1,000 from collectors. Shout! Factory released an expanded two-disc version in 2004.