Andrew Youakim (born 5 December 1946), known professionally as Andy Kim, is a Canadian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...

singer and songwriter. He grew up in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. He is known for

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

that he released in the late 1960s and 1970s: the international hit " Baby, I Love You" in 1969, and " Rock Me Gently", which topped the U.S. singles chart in 1974. He co-wrote "

Sugar, Sugar Sugar, Sugar is a song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. It was originally recorded by the Archies – a fictional band of studio musicians linked to the 1968–69 US Saturday morning TV cartoon ''The Archie Show'', inspired by the Archie C ...

" in 1968 and sang on the recording as part of

the Archies ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

; it was #1 for four weeks and was "Record of the Year" for 1969. He has recorded under the stage name Baron Longfellow since 1978 or just as Longfellow in the early 1990s. He continues to perform under his original recording name of Andy Kim.

Life and career

Kim was born Andy Youakim on 5 December 1946 in

, the third of four sons of Lebanese immigrants. In his teens, he moved to New York's Brill Building to pursue a career in music. He recorded as "Andy Kim", using the different last name as a way to obscure his Lebanese ethnicity, though on his earliest releases he used the name "Youakim" in the writing credits. In 1968, after minor recording successes over the previous few years, Kim released the single "How'd We Ever Get This Way?" on the

Steed Steed is a working animal used as a mount (especially for warfare). Steed may also refer to: People with the name *Steed Malbranque (born 1980), French footballer * Edward Steed (born 1987), British cartoonist *Joel Steed (born 1969), American f ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

; it just missed the U.S. Top 20, reaching #21. He also co-wrote, with

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

, "

" which was a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

for

, reaching #1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ultimately becoming the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

Record of the Year. Kim and Barry wrote more songs for the Archies, and also for

the Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

' album '' Changes'' in 1970, which Barry produced. In 1969, Kim had two hit singles, "Rainbow Ride", which made the US Top 50, and " Baby, I Love You", which got to #9 in the US and #1 in Canada; it was so popular in Canada, it earned him a Gold Leaf (Juno) Award in 1970 as his country's Best Male Vocalist. "Baby, I Love You" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in October 1969. Over the next few years, Kim recorded a few minor hits, including "

Be My Baby "Be My Baby" is a song by American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in ...

" and "It's Your Life" (in 1970) and toured North America extensively. In the spring of 1974, he released the self-penned " Rock Me Gently", which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and to #2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. "Rock Me Gently" sold three million copies globally, earning Kim his second gold disc. Kim had shied away from touring for years before then, when he was working with the

. He has said that he had created a person in his music in the vein of a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

blond Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color ...

surfer and that fans were shocked to see his dark skin colour and appearance. As well, he had altered his voice on his earlier records to sound younger. In 1976, Kim altered the spelling of his pseudonym to Andy Kimm, and released a few singles under that name on his own Ice Records label in 1976 and '77. Shortly thereafter, he adopted the stage name Baron Longfellow and issued the first single ("Shady Hollow Dreamer") under that name in 1978. It was followed by a self-titled album ''Baron Longfellow'' with the hit single "Amour" in 1980 and, also under the same pseudonym, in 1984 released ''Prisoner by Design''. Both of these albums met with moderate success. In 1991, Kim again went by Longfellow and recorded the single "Powerdrive", which received radio airplay on several radio stations across Canada. In 1995, Kim played at the

Kumbaya Festival The Kumbaya Festival was an annual Canadian music and arts festival in the 1990s.Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached ...

were also performing. Nearly a decade later, the band's

Ed Robertson Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Barenaked Ladies. He, along with former member Steven Page, founded the group in 1988. As of Page's ...

convinced Kim to come out of retirement. Robertson co-wrote the song "I Forgot to Mention" with him and offered to produce the track. The single was released on a 5-track EP in 2004 which included a re-recording of "Powerdrive". In March 2005, Kim received the annual "Indie Award" for Favorite Solo Artist during

Canadian Music Week Canadian Music Week (or CMW) is an industry conference and music festival held over ten days in Toronto and Ontario, Canada. History Canadian Music Week began in 1981 and has grown to become one of Canada's largest and most influential media a ...

. The music video for "Love Is...", released in the summer of 2005, reached #1 at Bravo.ca. In 2005, he co-wrote "What Ever Happened to Christmas" with

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has s ...

. The same year, he established the Andy Kim Christmas Show – a live concert at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto in which a variety of artists were invited to perform mostly Christmas music. Kim's band acted as house band for the artists, who donated their time for the show. Proceeds were donated to the CHUM/CITY Christmas Wish. The show repeated in 2006, with a similar lineup. Proceeds from the show went to support the Children's Aid Foundation, and the edited show was aired on Mix 99.9 on Christmas Eve and Day. The Andy Kim Christmas show became an annual tradition. The annual show either took place at the Mod Club or Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, with proceeds from the evening donated to a different children's charity each year. More recently, Kim's music has again come into the public eye, as "Rock Me Gently" was sped up slightly and used by

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Motors ...

for their Jeep Liberty commercial ("Pouring In"). His name can be seen on the radio display near the beginning of the commercial. In 2009, Kim was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. In 2011, E1 Music Canada released ''Happen Again'', Kim's first album since 2004. In 2014, he collaborated with

Kevin Drew Kevin Drew (born September 9, 1976) is a Canadian musician and songwriter who, together with Brendan Canning, founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene. He was also part of the lesser-known KC Accidental, which con ...

on the album ''It's Decided'', released on 24 February 2015 on Arts & Crafts. On 23 July 2018, Canada's Walk of Fame included Andy Kim on its list of 2018 inductees. He became part of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2019. He is married to Sandra Jo Drummond, a former daughter-in-law of

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Andy Canadian male singers Canadian pop singers Canadian songwriters Dot Records artists Juno Award for Artist of the Year winners Living people Singers from Montreal Songwriters from Quebec Writers from Montreal Canadian people of Lebanese descent Uni Records artists Year of birth uncertain Arts & Crafts Productions artists Anglophone Quebec people 1946 births Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees