Today’s classic song of the day was a number-one hit for Canadian singer/songwriter Andy Kim. Released in June of 1974, “Rock Me Gently” went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. It also hit the top spot in Kim’s native Canada and #2 in the UK.
Andy Kim (born Andrew Youakim) had several hits in the late ’60s and early ’70s, including covers of “Baby I Love You” (1969) and “Be My Baby” (1970). With his then-partner, legendary songwriter Jeff Barry, he also co-wrote “Sugar, Sugar” and “Jingle Jangle” for the cartoon group the Archies.
By 1974, however, Kim had been without a recording contract for several years and had to self-finance the recording session for “Rock Me Gently,” a song he wrote solo. Players on this session included Dean Parks and Larry Carlton on guitars, Max Bennett on bass, and Ed Greene on drums. Michael Omartian played keyboards (including that funky little Stevie Wonder-like bit midstream) and conducted the strings.
“Rock Me Gently” was the perfect comeback for Kim. Originally released on his own ICE Records label, the single was picked up by Capital Records, who signed him to a new recording deal. When that deal ended a few years later, he recorded some tracks under the name of Andy Kimm (note the extra “m”) for ICE, but they didn’t go much of anywhere. In 1978 he adopted the stage name Baron Longfellow and released a few more albums and singles, including the (very) minor hit, “Amour.” He retired from the music business sometime in the mid-80s but was coerced out of retirement in 1995 by Ed Robertson of Bare Naked Ladies, with whom he wrote a new tune called “I Forgot to Mention.” Mr. Kim is still dabbling around the edges of the music business today, age 78.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Andy Kim discussing “Rock Me Gently” on Toronto radio station boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM). Interesting behind-the-scenes stuff.
