Go back

Andy Kim

Year of Induction: 2025

Origin: Montréal, QC

The renowned Andy Kim, the composer of such timeless classics as Sugar, Sugar and Rock Me Gently, hails from Montreal. After a 50-plus year career, the irrepressible Kim is still riding on top.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, Kim (formally Andrew Youakim) left school at 16, journeying by bus to New York City’s lauded Brill Building, the home of America’s top songwriters. There Kim dropped in on producer and songwriter Jeff Barry, who took a chance on the eager kid, signing him to his Steed label.

Kim told SOCAN, “When you’re a teenager you know all the answers…. I just did what I wanted to do then.” There Kim recorded his first singles: I Loved You Once; and I Hear You Say I Love You. Developing his songwriting chops with Barry led to a brisk chain of non-stop hits from 1968 to the mid 1970s: How’d We Ever Get This Way, Shoot ’Em Up Baby (No. 3 on Canada’s CHUM chart); So Good Together, and Rainbow Ride. Kim’s cover of The Ronettes’ Baby I Love You (Billboard’s No. 9, RPM’s No. 1, and CHUM’s No. 2) earned him his first gold record and the prestigious inaugural 1970 Juno award as top male vocalist.

This string of hits proved a warm-up act for the 1969 massive world-wide hit Sugar, Sugar, written by Kim and Barry for The Archies popular animated TV show, with Kim on vocals with The Archies. At first, though, there was disappointment: Disc jockeys scoffed at the jaunty, catchy Sugar, Sugar, labelling it “bubblegum music.” Stations wouldn’t play it. Kim told NPR News: “People put the song down as if it was just fluff.”

But, with promotion, Sugar, Sugar spread like wildfire and by year’s end was Billboard’s No. 1 song of the year. At home in Canada it was CHUM’s No. 1 song for four weeks, and in the U.K. it reached No. 1.

Said Kim, “I was really, really blown away by the fact that it became the industry’s Record of the Year.”

The peppy, innocent-sounding Sugar, Sugar turned out to be much more than a kids’ song for a cartoon; it brought people distraction from the unsettling events happening around them. When the TV news brought riots, anti-Vietnam war protests and civil rights issues into their living rooms, the innocence of Sugar, Sugar provided a welcome musical escape. It simply made people happy.

Artists rushed to cover Sugar, Sugar in a range of styles; the list includes Wilson Pickett, Bob Marley, Tina Turner, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Chet Baker, Mickey Dolenz, Olivia Newton-John, David Hasselhoff, and The Ventures.

Fifty years later, Kim joined forces with Toronto’s popular Choir!Choir!Choir! to record a video for the song’s 50th anniversary. The BMI award-winning Sugar, Sugar was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

Kim was awarded the SOCAN Cultural Impact Award in 2017. As the Sugar, Sugar high wore off, Kim adopted a rock-ballad sound with 1974’s solo effort Rock Me Gently, which he composed after spending a magical night walking on Malibu beach. When the song was turned down by every record label, he formed his ICE label and self-produced the recording. Again, his positive attitude yielded undreamt-of success: Rock Me Gently sold three million copies and reached No. 1 on Billboard and RPM and No. 2 in the U.K. and on CHUM. It was nominated for 1975’s Junos for best-selling single, composer and producer of the year. Kim explained his determination to a CSHF interviewer, “I don’t hear the word ‘no’ as anything other than an opportunity for me to inspire my future and my destiny.”

A few years later and another change of direction, Kim’s manager Gordon Mills (famous for changing the names of his artists Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck & Gilbert O’Sullivan, suggested Andy change his name to Baron Longfellow, releasing the “Baron Longfellow” album and the tender love song Amour (Tu es ma papillon). The song returned Kim to his Montreal roots
with its inclusion of French lyrics, and earned Juno nominations for composer and single of the year.

Even after worldwide success and several decades in the business, the dynamic Kim did not rest on his laurels. He released his “Prisoner By Design” album in 1984, and in 1985 sang on the Northern Lights No. 1 single Tears Are Not Enough. As Longfellow, he released the 1991 single Powerdrive.

Kim resumed his stellar career with 2004’s I Forgot to Mention, written with Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, leading to Kim being named Canada’s best solo indie artist. He released albums in 2010 and 2015, and established the annual Andy Kim Christmas Show in Toronto.

The Andy Kim Christmas is in its 21st year raising over $2,250,000 for multiple Charities. In 2015 Kim recorded ‘It’s Decided’ by Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene. David Letterman was so interested in the album that he invited Andy to appear on his show a few weeks before retiring. As Kim says, “It’s up to anyone who really believes in a dream to fight for it.” His lengthy and successful career is proof that this philosophy has worked for him even beyond his dreams.

From humble beginnings in an immigrant family, Kim has achieved the pinnacle of music-biz success. He is now an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame & awarded The Key to the City in Toronto.

Read full Bio

Rau_Ze’s Rise: Inside the Duo Redefining Quebec’s R&B and Trip-Hop Scene

Blog

October 21, 2025

Richard Séguin, Roch Voisine, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, and Diane Juster to take part in LÉGENDES on November 17 in Montréal — a Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame event presented by RBC

Media Releases

Our Partners