Paul Anka
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is available for public concerts and events. Paul Anka can be booked for
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representing YOU, the buyer.
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Paul Anka Biography
One of the biggest teen idols of the late '50s, Paul Anka moved to the
adult sphere several years later and became a successful performer,
songwriter, music businessman, and recording artist, remaining so well
into the new millennium. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1941 to parents of
Lebanese Christian descent who owned a local restaurant, Anka proved a
child prodigy, beginning his show business life at the age of 12 as an
impressionist. By the age of 14, he was stealing the family car to
drive to amateur singing contests in nearby Hull, Quebec, and writing
his own songs. His first single, I Confess, appeared on the Riviera
subsidiary of Jules and Joe Bihari's
RPM label. While on a trip to New York with a group of friends who sang
as the Rover Boys, Anka gained an audition with ABC producer Don Costa, and sang his own composition, Diana, an ode to a former babysitter. Costa
liked what he heard, recorded the teenager, and watched as the single
hit number one on both sides of the Atlantic later in 1957, eventually
selling a reported ten million copies worldwide.
Anka placed four songs in the Top 20 a year later, including
You Are My Destiny and Crazy Love, tempering the all-out rebellion
of rock & roll with songs that questioned parental authority rather
than promoting outright disobedience. He wrote one of Buddy Holly's
last hits, It Doesn't Matter Anymore, and moved into movies with
Let's Rock and Girls Town. The latter film spawned his biggest American
hit, Lonely Boy, just the first in a string of 1959 chart successes
including Put Your Head on My Shoulder, It's Time to Cry, and
Puppy Love (written for old flame Annette Funicello, and later a hit for Donny Osmond as well).
By 1961, when the teen idol craze began to cool off, Anka (a
millionaire while still a minor) could boast of the over 125
compositions under his belt, his own record label (Spanka), and the
recognition of being behind the second-best-selling single of all time
(only White Christmas had sold more copies than Diana ). Instead of
resting on his laurels, Anka took on the adult market. First, he
groomed a solo act and got bookings into that haven for sophisticates,
the Copacabana. Anka next moved to RCA and, in yet another shrewd
business move, bought the rights to his old masters and made a fortune
on reissues alone. He diversified his career by appearing in several
more movie roles (including the 1962 drama The Longest Day, for which
he provided the title song). One of the first pop singers to do shows
in Las Vegas, he also hosted television variety shows like Hullabaloo,
The Midnight Special, and Spotlite, and moved on to foreign audiences
in Asia and Europe (where he found his wife, Parisian model Anne de
Zogheb). He wrote the theme to The Tonight Show (aired every weeknight
for almost 30 years), rewrote the French lyrics to the song Comme
d'Habitude for one of Frank Sinatra's most famous later songs, My Way, and also wrote Tom Jones'
biggest hit, She's a Lady. Anka also branched out in the recording
studio, recording theme albums such as Excitement on Park Avenue and Strictly Nashville.
Although he had hit the Top 40 only once since 1963, Anka
stormed the number one slot in 1974 with (You're) Having My Baby, a
duet recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL, with his singing protégée, Odia Coates.
The duo's next two singles, One Man Woman/One Woman Man and I Don't
Like to Sleep Alone, both hit the Top Ten (his 1974 LP Anka
reached gold), and his 1975 solo single Times of Your Life reached
number seven. Anka charted into the early '80s, continuing his many
casino and international appearances while recording sparingly but
continually. As such, concert recordings and compilations constituted
the bulk of his '80s and '90s discography, although he entered the
studio also, most notably on the 2005 Verve date Rock Swings, a collection of contemporary standards. Its large success prompted a follow-up (of sorts), Classic Songs: My Way, from 2007, which included more contemporary standards as well as duets with Michael Bublé and Jon Bon Jovi. John Bush, All Music Guide