The pantheon of songwriters who can claim to have authored the number-one pop song in any given year is by definition very exclusive.
Look up 1969 on that select list and you’ll find the name of Canadian Andy Kim. That year, at the age of only 17, the Montreal-born Kim achieved a kind of immortality when a infectious song that he co-wrote, Sugar, Sugar, recorded by the cartoon group The Archies, finished the year at the top of the Billboard charts.
Kim, a swarthy, romantic stylist in the tradition of Engelbert Humperdinck or perhaps Gino Vannelli, is underrated among Canadian pop musicians. He is said to have sold the amazing total of 30-million records – hard to believe until you start adding up sales for such North American hits as 1974’s Rock Me Gently (six million) and Baby I Love You. Kim was only 16 when in 1968 he trekked to New York City to get his foot in the door of the music business, and success came quickly – chart hits that first year, Sugar Sugar in 1969, and in 1970 he earned a Juno as Canada’s top male vocalist.
In sum, Kim had nine Billboard Top 40 tunes, and as a songwriter his songs were recorded by such greats as Wilson Pickett, Tom Jones, Ike and Tina Turner and Bob Marley, earning him induction in both the Hit Parade Hall Of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Kim recorded only intermittently through the eighties and nineties until Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies coaxed him out of his semi-retirement in 2004. His comeback has gather steam since then and now he has a new album of music out.
In an interview with Forever Young, Kim described his fascination with music on the radio, growing up in Montreal.
“I had this thing for writing as a kid. I always was fascinated by not only the music, but who makes this music. I would listen on my transistor radio and it was like a signal coming from another land, and I would decipher it. I’d listen to how they’d phrase things.
“By the time I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show to the time I made it out to New York, I had kind of embodied all of the great songs I heard on the radio and all the great songwriters that touched me with their songs.”
He laughs as he contemplates his early success as a teen songwriter. “When I think about it, it’s almost surreal. Did I really do that? But when you are a teenager you are immortal.
“I often thing about my career as more about courage than talent, and I was very, very lucky to have met someone by the name of Jeff Barry.” Barry became his songwriting partner on early hits in 1968 and then Sugar, Sugar. The song concept started as a conversation with his producer, when he was asked if he could come up with something for The Archies. Spontaneously, he started singing.
“Immediately I was stopped by my producer. ‘What did you just say?’ I repeated, Oh sugar, sugar. You are my candy girl’ ... It’s one of those things that miraculously just happens with a thought.”
The new few years were productive, but then he experienced a dry spell. Curiously to Canadian music fans, in 1980, the man who had been born Andrew Youakim adopted a totally new persona and new stage name – Baron Longfellow. Kim explains the reasoning behind this risky metamorphosis.
“He had managed three people before me. The first was Tom Woodward (more famous as Tom Jones), the second guy was Jerry Dorsey, and he changed his name to Englebert Humperdinck. The next was a fellow by the name of Layman Sullivan. He changed his name to Gilbert O’Sullivan. So the fourth guy was Andy Kim and in order for him to put his stamp on Andy Kim we were looking for a re-birth.
“Also, the fact that I was 6 foot 2 – he figured I looked more like a Baron Longfellow.”
The story takes a twist here, as the producer took ill and died of cancer. Kim proceeded with the transformation and had a hit song out of it, Amore.
But, “The name change really didn’t catch on because no matter when they listened to a Baron Longfellow song people would say, oh we know it’s Andy Kim. But I look back at those years as a wonderful experimentation.”
His resurgence after two decades out of the public eye was sparked by a friendship with Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson. The two co-wrote the song I Forgot to Mention and in 2005 Andy won an Indie award for favourite solo artist during Canadian Music Week.
“What feels good is you are able to work with people you respect. I’ve become a part of a community. I love being around songwriters first and foremost. It’s the one sacred thing that will keep me sane.”
And in March, there is a new CD. Happen Again will be released on March 30 with 10 new songs.
“I love this new CD Happen Again because it’s a reflection of who I am today. These are my thoughts and these are my expressions and I feel so lucky to be able to do this.
“I’ve been so blessed with music and have used it as a life raft.” He chuckles, “I have no known skills but I have music!”
