Andrew Youakim (born 5 December 1946), better known as Andy Kim, is a Canadian pop rock singer and songwriter. He grew up in Montreal, Quebec. He is known for hits 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" in 1968 and sang on the recording as part of the Archies; 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 Montreal, 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 label; it just missed the U.S. Top 20, reaching #21. He also co-wrote, with Jeff Barry, "Sugar, Sugar" which was a hit single for the Archies, 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' 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 the 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" 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. "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 label. He has said that he had created a person in his music in the vein of a white blond 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 1985, Andy Kim joined his voice to the Northern Lights project, created and organized by Bruce Allen, in order to raise funds for relief of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. With other Canadian artists such as Bryan Adams, Liona Boyd, John Candy, Bruce Cockburn, Burton Cummings, Lisa Dalbello, David Foster, Corey Hart, Dan Hill, Paul Hyde, Geddy Lee, Gordon Lightfoot, Richard Manuel, Joni Mitchell, Kim Mitchell, Aldo Nova, Oscar Peterson, Mike Reno, Paul Shaffer, Ian Thomas, Sylvia Tyson, Jim Vallance, etc. It followed Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" British project with Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in November 1984. The Northern Lights song Tears Are Not Enough was written by David Foster, Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams, Rachel Paiement, Paul Hyde and Bob Rock and recorded on February 10, 1985 at Manta Sound studios in Toronto.
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 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".