diff --git a/app/scripts/keyrings/simple.js b/app/scripts/keyrings/simple.js
index 6b16137ae..d604430b8 100644
--- a/app/scripts/keyrings/simple.js
+++ b/app/scripts/keyrings/simple.js
@@ -54,8 +54,7 @@ class SimpleKeyring extends EventEmitter {
   // For eth_sign, we need to sign transactions:
   signMessage (withAccount, data) {
     const wallet = this._getWalletForAccount(withAccount)
-
-    const message = ethUtil.removeHexPrefix(data)
+    const message = ethUtil.stripHexPrefix(data)
     var privKey = wallet.getPrivateKey()
     var msgSig = ethUtil.ecsign(new Buffer(message, 'hex'), privKey)
     var rawMsgSig = ethUtil.bufferToHex(sigUtil.concatSig(msgSig.v, msgSig.r, msgSig.s))
diff --git a/test/unit/keyrings/simple-test.js b/test/unit/keyrings/simple-test.js
index 687318f99..77eeb834c 100644
--- a/test/unit/keyrings/simple-test.js
+++ b/test/unit/keyrings/simple-test.js
@@ -49,6 +49,24 @@ describe('simple-keyring', function() {
     })
   })
 
+  describe('#signMessage', function() {
+    const address = '0x9858e7d8b79fc3e6d989636721584498926da38a'
+    const message = '0x879a053d4800c6354e76c7985a865d2922c82fb5b3f4577b2fe08b998954f2e0'
+    const privateKey = '0x7dd98753d7b4394095de7d176c58128e2ed6ee600abe97c9f6d9fd65015d9b18'
+    const expectedResult = '0x28fcb6768e5110144a55b2e6ce9d1ea5a58103033632d272d2b5cf506906f7941a00b539383fd872109633d8c71c404e13dba87bc84166ee31b0e36061a69e161c'
+
+    it('passes the dennis test', function(done) {
+      keyring.deserialize([ privateKey ])
+      .then(() => {
+        return keyring.signMessage(address, message)
+      })
+      .then((result) => {
+        assert.equal(result, expectedResult)
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+  })
+
   describe('#addAccounts', function() {
     describe('with no arguments', function() {
       it('creates a single wallet', function() {