Baron Longfellow (Andy Kim)

Baron Longfellow was the early-1980s recording identity of Montreal-born Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Andy Kim, created as part of a deliberate attempt to begin again after more than a decade of international pop success.

As Andy Kim, he had already built an extraordinary career. His songs and recordings included ‘How’d We Ever Get This Way’, ‘Baby, I Love You’, ‘Be My Baby’, ‘Rock Me Gently’ and ‘Sugar, Sugar’, the worldwide hit he co-wrote with Jeff Barry for the Archies. By the middle of the 1970s, however, Kim had become increasingly uncomfortable with the youthful image attached to his name and the expectations created by his earlier success. Following the death of his father, he withdrew from the music business for a period and began reconsidering both his work and public identity.

The name Baron Longfellow arose through Kim’s association with British songwriter and manager Gordon Mills, best known for guiding the careers of Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and Gilbert O’Sullivan. Mills heard a group of Kim’s newer songs and was particularly taken with the romantic ballad ‘Amour’. He envisioned the singer not as the familiar Andy Kim of the 1960s and 1970s, but as a more mature and enigmatic performer. During an informal conversation, Mills proposed the grandly romantic name Baron Longfellow.

Kim accepted the idea even though abandoning an internationally recognized name carried considerable risk. The new identity was intended to provide artistic distance from his earlier career and allow him to present more adult, reflective material without being measured constantly against ‘Rock Me Gently’ or ‘Sugar, Sugar’. Mills became ill before the project could be developed fully, leaving Kim to carry the concept forward himself.

The earliest Baron Longfellow recordings appeared near the end of the 1970s. ‘Shady Hollow Dreamer’ introduced the new name and signalled the transition from Andy Kim’s polished pop past toward a more romantic, adult-oriented sound. The project was issued through Kim’s own Ice Records, the independent label he had originally established when major record companies declined ‘Rock Me Gently’. Once again, he was taking responsibility for recording, financing and presenting his music rather than waiting for the industry to determine its direction.

The first full-length Baron Longfellow album, Baron Longfellow, appeared in 1980 through Ice Records with Canadian manufacturing and distribution by PolyGram. Although the album carried an independent label name, it was produced on the scale of a major Los Angeles studio recording.

Kim produced the album with Michael Omartian and Armin Steiner. Omartian also arranged, conducted and played keyboards, while Steiner recorded and mixed the sessions at Sound Labs in Hollywood. The principal musicians included drummer Mike Baird, guitarists Marty Walsh and Steve Lukather, and bassist Michael Porcaro. The extensive guest cast included David Foster, Jay Graydon, Dean Parks, Ed Greene, Willy Ornelas, Scott Edwards, William Cuomo, Sally Stevens and Carol Carmichael Parks.

The presence of these musicians gave the album a richly polished West Coast studio sound combining pop, soft rock, adult contemporary music and romantic chanson. It was a major stylistic and visual reinvention, but Kim did not completely erase his earlier history. The record closed with a new version of ‘Sugar, Sugar’, acknowledging one of his most famous compositions while placing it inside the new Baron Longfellow identity.

Most of the album was written by Longfellow, with several important collaborations. Kerry Chater co-wrote ‘Uptown Love, Downtown Love’, while D. Hofheinz shared the writing of ‘Shady Hollow Dreamer’. The remaining original material included ‘Amour’, ‘Chicago’s Queen’, ‘And Now That It’s Over’, ‘Go It Slow’, ‘The Couch’, ‘Femme Fatale’ and ‘Harlem’.

The album’s central song was ‘Amour’, a dramatic romantic ballad that became the defining recording of the Baron Longfellow period. It received substantial Canadian attention and ultimately earned Juno Award nominations for Single of the Year and Composer of the Year. ‘Go It Slow’ also attracted adult-contemporary airplay, demonstrating that the new identity had achieved more than curiosity value.

Nevertheless, the public never completely separated Baron Longfellow from Andy Kim. Contemporary coverage frequently explained that the mysterious new singer was actually the established Canadian star, and even awards presentations introduced him through his better-known name. Kim later acknowledged the contradiction: the reinvention generated publicity, but the constant explanation of his identity made it difficult for Baron Longfellow to exist independently.

Four years later, he returned with the second Baron Longfellow album, Prisoner by Design. Released in 1984, it preserved the romantic character of the first record while updating the production for the synthesizer-driven sound of the mid-1980s.

Longfellow produced the album himself, with Kerry Chater arranging the material. Recording and mixing were completed by Jay Lewis at Sound Labs in Hollywood, with additional recording at Capitol Studios and Westwind Studios. Wally Traugott mastered the album at Capitol. The artwork was designed by Montreal’s Image Ades, with front-cover photography by Randee St-Nicholas and back photography by Peter Collie.

Chater became Longfellow’s principal songwriting partner for the album. Together they wrote ‘Don’t Love Him’, ‘Hold Me’, ‘You Are’, ‘Living Outside of You’, ‘Years from Now’ and ‘Without You’. Doug Foxworthy joined them in writing the lyrics to ‘I’m Gonna Need a Miracle Tonight’, ‘I’ve Got to See That Girl’ and ‘In the Night Machine’.

The album moved between polished ballads, electronic pop and adult-oriented rock. ‘I’m Gonna Need a Miracle Tonight’ provided its strongest commercial opening, while ‘Hold Me’ and ‘In the Night Machine’ extended the promotional campaign. Prisoner by Design reached No. 22 on the Canadian album chart, giving Baron Longfellow a national Top 25 album several years after the project had begun.

The two Baron Longfellow albums reveal different sides of the same reinvention. The self-titled record surrounded Kim’s mature songwriting with elite Los Angeles session players and expansive orchestral-pop arrangements. Prisoner by Design placed the identity within the cleaner, more electronic atmosphere of 1984. Together, they document an established artist attempting to escape both nostalgia and the commercial expectations surrounding his original name.

The experiment brought meaningful achievements. ‘Amour’ received major Juno recognition, ‘Go It Slow’ gained adult-contemporary attention, and Prisoner by Design became a nationally charting album. Yet Baron Longfellow could never entirely step outside Andy Kim’s shadow. The very fame that made the project newsworthy also prevented the new name from being accepted without explanation.

Kim briefly revisited the identity in abbreviated form as Longfellow, releasing ‘Powerdrive’ in the early 1990s. He ultimately returned to recording and performing as Andy Kim, embracing rather than distancing himself from the career that had begun decades earlier.

The Baron Longfellow recordings remain one of the least understood chapters in that career. They were neither anonymous side projects nor casual attempts to follow current fashions. They represented a serious artistic reconstruction involving a new name, new imagery, new collaborators and a more mature approach to songwriting.

He did not cease being Andy Kim when he became Baron Longfellow. Instead, he used the name to explore what might exist beyond the image that success had created for him. The two albums preserve that search: an internationally recognized Canadian songwriter stepping away from his past, assembling some of Los Angeles’ finest studio musicians and attempting to introduce himself to the world all over again.

-Robert Williston