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, earl ...

singer and songwriter. He grew up in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

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 thirtee ...

. He is known for hits that he released in the late 1960s and 1970s: the international hit "

Baby, I Love You "Baby, I Love You" is a song originally recorded by the Ronettes in 1963 and released on their debut album '' Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes'' (1964). The song was written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, and produced by Spec ...

" 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 Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

. In his teens, he moved to New York's

Brill Building The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...

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 Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"How'd We Ever Get This Way?" on the Steed

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 for

, reaching #1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ultimately becoming the RIAA 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 Changes may refer to: Books * ''Changes'', the 12th novel in Jim Butcher's ''The Dresden Files'' Series * ''Changes'', a novel by Danielle Steel * ''Changes'', a trilogy of novels on which the BBC TV series was based, written by Peter Dickinson ...

'' in 1970, which Barry produced. In 1969, Kim had two hit singles, "Rainbow Ride", which made the US Top 50, and "

", 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 Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

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 Steed

. 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 o ...

blond surfer and that fans were shocked to see his dark

skin colour Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individ ...

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 Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

on several radio stations across Canada. In 1995, Kim played at the Kumbaya Festival, at which the Barenaked Ladies 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 The Mod Club Theatre (commonly called Mod Club) was an entertainment venue in Toronto that operated from 2002 to 2020. Its address was 722 College Street, which is in the city's Little Italy neighbourhood. Founded by Platinum Blonde frontman Ma ...

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 for their

Jeep Liberty The Jeep Liberty is a four door unibody compact SUV four-door manufactured and marketed by Jeep for model years 2002–2012 over two generations, internally designed the KJ (2002-2007) and KK (2008-2012), respectively. Both generations were marke ...

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 John Harlan Rook (October 9, 1937 - March 1, 2016) was an American radio programmer and executive, most known for his tenure in Chicago. Under his guidance in the 1960s, 50,000-watt ABC-owned WLS became the highest rated station in the Chicago ...

. 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 The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to honour Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The award presentation is held each year as part of the ...

in 2019. He is married to Sandra Jo Drummond, a former daughter-in-law of Bing Crosby.

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