‘Rock Me Gently’ By Andy Kim Hits Number One – September 28th, 1974 [VIDEO]

Some artists that are obscure today had big hits in decades past, and are surprisingly well off due to their songwriting and associations with other artists. Andy Kim would definitely fall into that category. He had one huge hit: 'Rock Me Gently'. It went all the way to number one on September 28th of 1974. And it almost didn't even get recorded.

Andy Kim was without a recording contract for 18 months prior to recording 'Rock Me Gently'. He financed the recording himself and didn't have enough cash on hand to record a full album. He knew he needed two songs, so rather than waste valuable and expensive studio time on a b-side, he just put an instrumental version of the song on the flip side of the 45.

Kim had some earlier songwriting success, co-writing the Archies' smash hit 'Sugar Sugar' with his future wife Ellie Greenwich. He had also had a couple of minor hits earlier in the '60s, but was at a point where most artists would feel defeated at the time he recorded 'Rock Me Gently'.

The record was released on June 22nd of 1974, and it took about three months to finally hit the top spot on the charts, knocking off Barry White's 'Cant Get Enough Of Your Love Babe'. It only held the number one position for a week, but the overall sales were huge - around 3 million copies. I always hear Neil Diamond when I listen to the song. Andy's vocal style and voice sound a LOT like him. Maybe that had something to do with the success of the record. Neil Diamond was peaking commercially as a songwriter and recording artist in the mid '70s, so it makes sense. Check out a promotional video clip for 'Rock Me Gently'. The clothing is pretty cheesy when you look back at the '70s. What were we thinking?: (via wikipedia.org)