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Judith Sims

Judith Sims

From the beginning of her journalism career, Judith Sims was in a unique position. In 1964, Capitol Records created The Teen Set, a teen focused promotional tool exclusively featuring Capitol artists. By 1965, after two successful issues, Capitol decided to establish TeenSet as a monthly magazine which was no longer exclusive to their artists. With this new venture, Capitol also released control of the magazine to the Kimtex corporation, where music-loving Judith Sims was employed as a secretary. At 25 years-old and with little-to-no experience in journalism (beyond contributing to staff reports in her college newspaper), Sims was handed the editorial reins of Teen Set.

Throughout her term with TeenSet, there was little input from Capitol and infrequent oversight from the various publishers, leaving Sims to include musicians and cultural events which piqued her interest. This editorial role enabled a deep involvement in popular music and cultural scenes allowing her to frequent Hollywood's Sunset Strip, rub elbows with many preeminent figures and musicians such as, Derek Taylor, Photographer Jim Marshall, Frank Zappa, Janis Joplin, and the Beach Boys. Her intimate coverage of the Beatles is especially of note. In 1966, she joined the Beatles for their U.S. tour, and in 1967, she spent time in EMI's Abbey Road Studio Two during the recording of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sims reported first-hand what was happening on the 1960s fading Hollywood and the blossoming San Francisco Scenes, and consistently featured the Swinging London Scene contributed by Carol Gold. Her reporting of popular music and culture was cutting-edge, including early features of many up-and-coming musicians such as Buffalo Springfield (a personal favorite of Sims) and a full 16-page photo spread (by Jim Marshall and Bruce McBroom) of the Monterey Pop Festival. Ultimately, with TeenSet, Sims navigated a changing musical landscape of the mid-to-late 1960s, and, as the editor, Judith Sims became a pioneering popular music journalist.

During her tenure at TeenSet and into the mid-1970s, Sims moonlighted for the British publication, Disc and Music Echo (later Disc) magazine. After the collapse of TeenSet (renamed AUM for the final three issues) in 1969, Sims was recruited by colleague Ben Fong-Torres to write for Rolling Stone. She wrote many articles for Rolling Stone considering Hendrix, the Beatles, the Who, Tim Buckley, and more. By the 1980s, Sims wrote for The Times, Washington Post, collaborated on small one-off teen publications, and in the 1990s, worked as assistant editor of the L.A. Times before she died of cancer in 1996. Sims was, and historically is, a force to be reckoned with in popular music journalism, but she is often overlooked. Although more recently, Sims and TeenSet have been briefly considered by Richard Morton Jack, Don Armstrong, and, most notably, past Rolling Stone editor Chet Flippo, in general, her role and impact is lacking from the broad popular music discourse. However, Sims, and TeenSet, is currently the focus of an upcoming academic book, and past British PhD thesis, both by Allison Bumsted, in which Sims is refocused as an invaluable contributor to 1960s culture and popular music journalism.

Biography Contributed by Allison Bumsted

Ben Fong-Torres' tribute to Judith

34 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, The Monkees, Phil Ochs: Hollywood Underground

Column by Judith Sims, TeenSet, September 1967

HOWDY, hip happies! I'm in a good mood, in case you couldn’t guess from that kray-zee salutation! Why am I in a good mood? You ...

The Cowsills, Grateful Dead: But is Britain ready for the Grateful Dead?

Profile by Judith Sims, Disc and Music Echo, 9 December 1967

By JUDY SIMS, Disc's new Hollywood reporter ...

Canned Heat: Get set to boogie with Canned Heat

Interview by Judith Sims, Disc and Music Echo, 24 August 1968

JUDY SIMS in Los Angeles interviews the new British chartbusters ...

The Asylum Choir, Marc Benno, Mance Lipscomb, Leon Russell: Marc Benno: More Minnows to Come

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972

LOS ANGELES — Marc Benno used to be Leon Russell's musical partner; as the notorious Asylum Choir they made two albums together in Los Angeles ...

Dillard and Clark, The Eagles, Longbranch/Pennywhistle, Linda Ronstadt: Folk Rock Vets: The Eagles Take It Easy & Soar

Profile and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 17 August 1972

LOS ANGELES — The four Eagles — Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner and Don Henley — had barely been introduced to each other when ...

Herb Alpert, Joe Cocker, Carole King, Sergio Mendes: A&M Records: Two Lonely Bulls & How They Grew

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 12 October 1972

LOS ANGELES — Ten years ago this month Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert put their initials together and formed a record company that has since ...

Bonnie Raitt: Troubadours: Why Bonnie Raitt Wants a Break

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 9 November 1972

LOS ANGELES — "Freebo, my bass player, he's a jock, he sits in his hotel room watching football games on television." Bonnie Raitt gestured in ...

James Taylor: Sessions: James Taylor's One Man Dog

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 23 November 1972

LOS ANGELES — James Taylor is a very slow songwriter. It takes him months to write enough to justify a session, but once he's in ...

Jefferson Airplane: The Master's Grunt: Jefferson Airplane Tries Shock Rock

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 7 December 1972

NEW YORK — At a rainy concert in Gaelic Park, a girl on stage stripped off her blouse and urged the audience to do the ...

The Byrds, Gene Clark, David Crosby: Reunion Of Old Byrds: A Time For Peace

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1973

LOS ANGELES — The five original Byrds are together again and not for the last time. They've made their first album together since Turn! Turn! ...

Sir Doug Weston's Troubadour: They Hate it, but They Play it

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 18 January 1973

LOS ANGELES — Why was Joni Mitchell recently playing the Troubadour folk club for several nights when she could play for as many people (and ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons, The Rolling Stones: Ex-Byrd Gram Parsons Solos: He's No Longer in a Hurry

Interview by Judith (Judy) Sims, Rolling Stone, 1 March 1973

LOS ANGELES — Back in 1969 Gram Parsons, rhythm guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist, and Chris Ethridge, bassist, decided to form a country rock band ...

Dobie Gray: Singles: Dobie Gray — 'Drift Away' (Mentor Williams), (Decca 33057 MCA)

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 26 April 1973

DOBIE GRAY, a member of 'The In Crowd' eight years ago, has returned to the airwaves with 'Drift Away', on a new label, MCA, with ...

Steely Dan: Ultimate Spinach Meets Naked Lunch's Dildo

Profile and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 26 April 1973

LOS ANGELES — Steely Dan named itself after William Burroughs' mighty dildo in Naked Lunch. "We just wanted to give the band a little more ...

Chicago: A James William Guercio Enterprise

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973

CHICAGO, THE line goes, would be a useless slag heap of Midwestern has-beens went it not for the strong hand of their producer, a young ...

Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills: The Reformation Of a "Jive" Artist

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 27 September 1973

LOS ANGELES — It's difficult to name a rock & roll star who's been put down, chopped up, dismissed and generally hated as much as ...

Carol Kaye's Bass: Solid Gold Hitmine

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 22 November 1973

LOS ANGELES — Carol Kaye is one of the few successful female session musicians, certainly one of Los Angeles' finest and busiest bassists. Her list ...

Billy Preston: Singles: 'Space Race' — Billy Preston

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973

AFTER BILLY Preston's first Number One single last June (and a gold record, too) of 'Will It Go Round in Circles', it was inevitable that ...

Maria Muldaur: A Singer Who Has the Pipes

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 31 January 1974

LOS ANGELES — "Not that many people are issued good voices," said Maria Muldaur, curled up on her hotel sofa on Christmas Eve, "That's probably ...

Ann Peebles: "You're My Idol": Ann Peebles Is Next

Profile and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 28 February 1974

MEMPHIS — The track may be pure chooglin' Memphis: There's that Willie Mitchell/Al Green horn arrangement easing in midway, and there's that easy glide in ...

Emerson Lake & Palmer: ELP...What? ELP!... What? ELP...

Report and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974

LOS ANGELES — Say what you will about the music, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's recently completed four-month American tour was the heaviest rock & roll ...

The Doors, Jim Morrison: Pam Morrison: A Final Curtain on Her Affair with Life

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 6 June 1974

LOS ANGELES — "Pamela was Jim's other half," said ex-Door Ray Manzarek. "The two of them were a perfect combination; I never knew another person ...

The Butts Band, The Doors: Butts Band: Double Doors Get Jammed

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 15 August 1974

LOS ANCELES — Already they've split up. The five-piece Butts Band is now back to its original twosome, looking for more members. Drummer John Densmore ...

Black Oak Arkansas, Brownsville Station, Billy Preston, War: Hard Rock in Hawaii: "Like an Army Zone"

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 10 October 1974

HONOLULU — BACKSTAGE violence erupted before an August 31st concert at Hawaii Raceway Park which starred War, Black Oak Arkansas, Billy Preston and Brownsville Station. ...

The Faces, The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood: Ron Wood: Not Just Another Pretty Face

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974

LOS ANGELES — I've Got My Own Album To Do is a good title for Ron Wood's first solo album: It fits his sly, impish ...

Average White Band Member ODs

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 7 November 1974

LOS ANGELES — Robbie McIntosh, 24, drummer with the Average White Band, died in his North Hollywood hotel room September 23rd of an overdose of ...

Average White Band: White Band with Soul

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 19 December 1974

LOS ANGELES — Their name has a nice sense of irony and confidence, because the Average White Band plays music that is anything but white; ...

Syreeta the Wonder Woman

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 2 January 1975

LOS ANGELES — Her name means "sweet singer" in India; in Swahili it means "one of uniqueness, or something like that," but Syreeta Wright claims ...

Jethro Tull: Tull on top: Ian Anderson Speaks His Mind

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1975

LOS ANGELES — Ian Anderson, leader of Jethro Tull, did not seem pleased, even though his group had just broken all attendance records at the ...

Dr. Demento's Record Mementos

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975

LOS ANGELES — 'Shaving Cream', a 1947 song by Paul Wynn, was an unlikely candidate for the Number One rating on the nation's most popular ...

Smokey Robinson: Quiet Stormbringer

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1975

LOS ANGELES — During the three years since Smokey Robinson retired from the Miracles and the road, he's released three solo albums — Smokey, Pure ...

Tim Buckley Dead at 28; Murder Charged

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 14 August 1975

LOS ANGELES — Singer/songwriter Tim Buckley died at the Santa Monica Hospital emergency room at 9:42 p.m. on June 29th. At first police suspected that ...

The Beatles: Four Who Dared : Backstage With the Beatles on Their Last Tour

Retrospective by Judith Sims, Los Angeles Times, 3 August 1986

Twenty years ago this month, the Beatles, on their third American tour, staged 18 concerts in 14 cities and played to more than 450,000 screaming ...

1967, The Summer of Love: There Was a Brief Moment When the Sun Really Shone

Memoir by Judith Sims, Los Angeles Times, 2 August 1987

I'LL GET right to the point: 1967 was one of the best years of my life. ...

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