Prodigy, singing star, and songwriter, Paul Anka is best known for the song "Diana" — and
for writing Frank Sinatra's hit "My Way" — but how much do you know about the music icon?
Anka was born in 1941 in Ottawa, Canada. According to his autobiography "My Way," his mother
did her best to support her son and encouraged him to chase his dreams. Anka wrote,
"She understood that the more unlikely your dreams are, the more fiercely you have to
pursue them."
The singer also mentioned that his family was very loving. He was interested in hockey
in his early years, and played it religiously.
As an athletic kid, he stayed as busy as he could — but at the same time, Anka detected
his own inner restlessness, an urge to explore the world beyond the town in which he was
raised. He wanted adventure, something that he eventually acknowledged and decided to
focus on.
Even as a child, Anka was fascinated by music. According to All Music, it wouldn't be wrong
to call him a "child prodigy." He was getting noticed as a performer when he was just 12
years old. In the next couple of years, he would work on his skills further — and even
end up sneaking out to singing contests without telling his parents. He'd also already started
writing songs by himself, and was keen to explore more.
According to Anka's official website, he was also a part of a local church choir and spent
some time learning how to play the piano. At the age of 13, he started a vocal group
named the Bobbysoxers. Around that time, Anka got lucky and ended up going to New York for
a while after winning a competition organized by the Campbell's soup company. His time in
New York made the young singer realize that he definitely wanted to give a music career
a shot and enter showbiz as a performer.
In his book, "My Way," Anka mentions that as a teen, he seriously thought about focusing
on a writing career. Before he was certain about music, he spent a couple of years studying
English literature and even worked at the Ottawa Citizen, where he wrote some stories
and took care of errands in the office. Additionally, Anka managed to rack up school awards for
his writing and knew that he had a knack for it. He joked that he thought about copying
lines from Shakespeare's work and turning them into song lyrics at some point.
According to the Herald-Mail Media, Anka's journalist father was keen to see his son
follow in his footsteps. However, these plans went for a toss when Anka was removed from
his shorthand classes, something that made Anka reconsider his writing goals. He got
distracted from journalism and started composing poetry instead.
One of Anka's most well-known songs, "Diana" was no accident. According to his 2013 book,
Anka came up with this song for someone he knew. He was 15 years old when he first set
his eyes on a 19-year-old woman named Diana who went to the same church as him. He was
attracted to her and decided to try his luck by approaching her and asking her out. Unfortunately,
Diana wasn't impressed and didn't take much notice. However, for Anka, she was a mystery,
a source of joy. Anka wrote,
"Diana was my inspiration, the fantasy girlfriend — and imagined problem."
Anka knows that some stories have claimed that Diana was his babysitter, which was never
the case. He has said that she may have been a babysitter to his siblings, but not him.
Things never really moved forward between them but Anka couldn't help but write a song
about his crush anyway. As the singer admitted,
"That's where songs come from: out of stories you tell yourself in your mind."
Interestingly, "Diana" is reported to have been the inspiration behind Princess Diana's
name. The Independent reports that Anka was told by a friend of the royal's that Diana's
mother was a fan of the song and named her daughter after it.
In 1959, musicians and friends Anka and Buddy Holly worked on a song together called "It
Doesn't Matter Anymore." According to News 4 San Antonio, Anka said that he wrote this
song for Holly, who passed away in a plane crash a few weeks after the song was finished.
Anka made sure to give all the royalties from the song to Holly's heartbroken wife.
Anka wrote about his friend and the devastating plane crash in his autobiography, saying,
"When you're very young and something like that happens, everything seems to come to
a standstill. [...] Buddy's death left a big hole in my life, an enormous silence."
Anka was in a state of disbelief. He lost his friend suddenly, someone he had spent
a lot of time with and gone on several tours with. In "My Way," he says that he toured
less after the incident, and that, in his words, "the road just wasn't the same anymore."
Anka went through a difficult period in the late 1960s. In his book, he describes wondering
how he could reinvent himself as an artist. He wrote,
"After 13 years I was wondering if I could still find a new place for myself in the business.
I knew I could survive performing my old hits — but what else was I going to do?"
Anka had already realized that music tastes were evolving and artists like Jimi Hendrix
and Janis Joplin were starting to make their presence felt in the music scene.
The rise of the Beatles was something that made Anka feel "intimidated." He could see
that younger musicians were getting a lot of attention and things were changing quickly.
Anka said,
"These weren't just cultural changes; we were looking at our own mortality as performers
in terms of making a living in the industry."
Things were getting competitive and Anka had to figure out a way to stay relevant. To his
credit, he created solutions and worked hard to keep himself going during the difficult
times.
Anka wasn't just a teen music sensation who managed to enthrall his listeners with his
voice. According to Macleans, the star also took to performing in nightclubs later in
his career, playing music for older audiences in the U.S. He was pretty self-aware about
his approach and said,
"Look, I broke into this business when rock 'n' roll music was commercial. Naturally I
exploited it. I can sing better songs and I can write better music. I'm a showman."
The singer considered this a milestone in his career. He wrote in "My Way" that in the
late 1950s, his, quote, "second incarnation" took place when he started performing in nightclubs.
One of his major shows was at Lotus Club in Washington D.C. where his work was appreciated.
He quickly started getting more offers to perform in other clubs across the U.S., something
that really helped build his image and contributed to his growth as an artist.
According to Buffalo News, Anka was heavily involved in the Las Vegas scene.
"I wound up in Vegas working these clubs and became very successful."
He even owned clubs and was a regular, often hanging out with stars like Frank Sinatra.
He also got a chance to get a closer look at the city's mobster culture, which was prevalent
in those days.
1961 was a particularly tough year for Anka. According to the Globe and Mail, he lost his
mom that year. She was only 37 at the time, and her death was attributed to complications
related to diabetes. Referring to how supportive she'd been about his career choices, the singer
said,
"She was my ally. She made the difference."
As he shared in "My Way," Anka's mom had been suffering for a long time. The singer writes
that healthcare wasn't as advanced in those times, and that she had severe complications
from her condition. Anka also mentioned,
"If my family was my core, my mother was the source of my strength — I got it all from
her until the day I buried her."
The singer revealed that losing his mother was heartbreaking for the entire family. His
dad didn't know how to deal with the loss and was by himself for a long time. After
her passing, it was Anka's responsibility to support his siblings and help them finish
their education.
Anka has said that he was grateful that his mom got to hear him play all his major hits
at home, and revealed that he dedicated a song to her called "You Are My Destiny." He
attributed his success to her faith and wrote,
"It was her faith in me that had driven me throughout my life."
Anka hasn't been able to completely avoid controversies in his career. In the 1980s,
the singer was secretly filmed lashing out at his band members for their performance
and appearance — like wearing t-shirts on stage, for example. Anka's rant was leaked
and shared. In fact, it went on to inspire dialog for Al Pacino in the movie “Ocean’s
13”.
When Anka was asked about the incident, he didn't take to it kindly and said that the
footage was shot by, in his words, "a snake [he] later fired," according to VH1. One of
the things he said in the recorded rant was,
"I have a new philosophy. I don't care if it's Jesus Christ. I'm the only important
one on that stage. If you don't do it my way, then it's the highway."
For Anka, Frank Sinatra was one of his greatest musical icons. According to his autobiography,
the two singers spent a lot of time together in Las Vegas, and Anka admired Sinatra for
his star power.
"Whenever he said you were going to dinner or Philadelphia, take your passport because
you won't be home for two weeks and wind up in France, he was just, he didn't care about
anything."
Anka went on to write,
"He took no s--- from anyone. He was a people's star. We all wanted to emulate him but knew
we couldn't. He was the boss."
According to Anka's official website, the musician revered Sinatra and was fascinated
by the kind of songs he wrote.
"So as I hung with him, spent time with him, he'd always tease me, 'hey kid when you gonna
write me a song?'"
When the crooner told Anka that it was time for him to leave the rock lane in which he
was dabbling, Anka was deeply affected and ended up penning the iconic song "My Way"
for Sinatra. According to Closer Weekly, Anka wanted to ensure that Sinatra went out on
a high note. Revealing that Sinatra had opened up to him, Anka said,
"He was being hassled, had all kinds of things going against him, but he wanted to do one
last album. I realized that if I wanted to write for him, it had to be now."
According to CBC, when he was done writing the song, Anka was quite overwhelmed by what
he'd managed to pull off, saying that he was sure that it was going to be a massive hit.
"And it hit me. 'And now the end is near, the final curtain.' Metaphoric."
And he was absolutely correct. Sinatra's recorded version of "My Way" is an all-time classic.
According to the Shropshire Star, Anka really values the fact that he's able to write. When
he was experiencing tough times as a musician during the rise of other popular names — like
the Beatles — Anka worked extra hard on his songwriting skills and didn't lose focus.
He said,
"The only thing that probably saved me was the fact that I started out as a writer, not
a singer."
Additionally, Anka considers himself an artist and believes that it's a timeless thing to
have. He explained,
"You have this feeling inside of you, you have an audience that is there to support
you, you are continually active, so it is a very hard situation to walk away from."
Makes sense, considering Anka felt a strong urge to write ever since he was in school.
It's been a medium for him to express his thoughts on paper. As the singer said,
"The part of my life, [...] the writer aspect, the creative aspect is what has been the core
of my longevity."
Plus — as many would surely agree — it was Anka's songwriting skills and dedication
to the song "My Way" that put the spotlight back on him.
"I didn't stop writing until 5 in the morning but when I was finished, I had something that I knew was special."
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