ANDY KIM: 50 years in the music business
Andy Kim marks his 50th anniversary in music this year.
The Montreal native says his career began during a visit to his cousins in New Jersey. Long interested by the work of writer-producer Jeff Barry, he took a bus into New York. There, he picked up copies of Billboard and Cashbox magazines, and walked up to the Brill Building, where Barry had his office.
The teenager managed to get a few minutes with Jeff and played his composition "How'd We Ever Get This Way," which the producer then critiqued. After Barry told Kim he liked the first two verses but not the last two, a friendship was born.
Andy moved to New York in 1968 and signed with Jeff's Steed label -- and "How'd We Ever Get This Way" became a Top 25 hit. That paved the way for Andy's Top 10 cover of "Baby I Love You." In 1974, his "Rock Me Gently" hit number-one. Andy also co-wrote the bubblegum classic "Sugar, Sugar."
These days, he's based in Toronto and has re-emerged as an indie rocker, working with Canadian artists such as Barenaked Ladies and, more recently, Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene. Having written an album's worth of new songs, Andy will soon be in Los Angeles to record them.