Paul Anka

BORN: July 30, 1941, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Paul Anka was one of the biggest teen idols of the late '50s, and a successful songwriter, music businessman, and recording artist well into the 1990s. Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1941 to parents of Syrian descent who owned a local restaurant, Anka proved to be 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 Montreal. In 1956, Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess," financed by his father and released with little promotion on RPM Records. He moved to New York the following year and began singing with a Canadian group, the Rover Boys, who were contracted to ABC-Paramount. Anka gained an audition with ABC producer Don Costa, and sang his ode to a former babysitter, "Diana." Costa liked what he heard, recorded the 16-year-old, and saw 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 which questioned parental authority instead of outright disobeying it. 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).

As the teen idol craze began to cool off in the early '60s, Paul Anka was dropped by ABC (which was looking for younger stars) and picked up by RCA. In the first of many shrewd business moves, Anka bought the rights to his old masters, and made a fortune on reissues alone. He also diversified his career by appearing in several more movie roles (including the 1962 drama The Longest Day, for which he provided the title song) and moved toward a nightclub background. He was one of the first pop singers to do shows in Las Vegas; he 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 thirty 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, Paul Anka stormed the number one slot in 1974 with "(You're) Having My Baby," a duet recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with his singing protege, 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 continued to chart into the early '80s, continuing his many casino and international appearances while recording sparingly but continually. His 112th album overall, 1996's Paul Anka Y Amigos, featured Spanish and English duets with friends old and new. A Body of Work followed in 1998. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Pop singer Paul Anka was a successful teenage heartthrob of the late '50s and early '60s. His life was chronicled in the 1962 documentary Lonely Boy (1962). Occasionally, Anka plays small roles in feature films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide