Born: 1952 in Montreal
Debut: 1968
Genre: Pop, Adult Contemporary
Achievements:
- Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year (1970)
- Co-wrote one of the biggest songs of all-time, “Sugar, Sugar”
Biggest Hit:
“Rock Me Gently” (1974)
- Peaked: #1-Canada; #1-US; #2-UK
- Charted for 4 months
Biggest Composed Hit:
“Sugar, Sugar” (1969)
- Co-wrote the song with Jeff Barry
- #1 Song of the Year in the U.S. (Billboard)
- #2 Song of the Year in Canada.
- Spent 8 weeks at #1 in the U.K.
- Sold over 13 million copies, making it one of the biggest-selling singles of all-time.
Some Other Hit Singles:
- “How’d We Ever Get This Way?” (1968)
(Peaked: #9-Canada; #21-US)
- “Shoot ‘Em Up Baby” (1968)
- “Rainbow Ride” (1969)
- “So Good Together” (1969)
- “Baby, I Love You” (1969)
(Peaked: #1-Canada; #9-US. 20th of the Year in Canada.)
- “Be My Baby” (1970)
(Peaked: #6-Canada; #17-US)
- “Fire, Baby I’m On Fire” (1974)
- “Amour” (1980)
- “I Forgot to Mention” (2004)
Andy Kim of Montreal grew up with three brothers in a hardworking family involved in the grocery business. With $40 in his pocket, he went to New York at age 16 to try to realize his dream of becoming a pop star. He was signed by producer / songwriter Jeff Barry to Steed Records. The two became a very successful songwriting team beginning with “How’d We Ever Get This Way” which made the Top 10 in Canada. A string of hits followed in the late-60s and early 70s. His first Gold Record was “Baby, I Love You”, a #1 hit in Canada and Top 10 hit in the U.S.; it sold 1.5 million copies.
He began co-writing songs for the cartoon TV series, The Archies. “Sugar, Sugar” became the biggest song of 1969, selling over 13 million copies. In 1970, Kim won a Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year. His biggest international hit came in 1974—“Rock Me Gently”. Due to the mounting strain of fame, Kim stopped recording for a few years. Tom Jones’ manager Gordon Mills signed him recommending he change his name to distance himself from his earlier bubblegum pop, teen idol image. In the 80s, he released a couple of adult contemporary albums under the alias Baron Longfellow. The song “Amour” was a hit and was nominated for Song of the Year at the Junos.
He faded into obscurity before recently resurfacing in 2004 with “I Forgot to Mention” co-written with the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson. Andy Kim has been compared in sound to Neil Diamond, and, having gone from teen idol to adult contemporary, in career path to Paul Anka.
