PAUL ANKA

Paul Anka is one of this century's most successful entertainers and songwriters, with awards and accomplishments that are unsurpassed. 2007 marks the icon's 50th anniversary in music; to commemorate the occasion he has recorded one of his most heartfelt and personal albums to date, Classic Songs, My Way. Classic Songs, My Way is a collection of Anka's hand-picked favorite songs, covering the gamut of his own greatest hits, to elite singer-songwriters, ballads, and pop and adult contemporary classics. Classic Songs, My Way is Anka's first recording for the Decca label and is set for release in September 2007.

Arranged for big band in the vein of his last disc, the critically acclaimed, Gold Certified, Rock Swings; the new CD showcases Anka's unmistakable vocals and his uncanny ability to make any song his own with style and panache.

Teaming with special guests including the esteemed Bon Jovi, as well as the wildly popular Michael Buble, the record boasts musical offerings for both his longtime fans and new devotees alike. Listeners will thrill to hear Bon Jovi and Anka duet on the classic, "My Way," and arguably one of Anka's most beloved songs famous the world over. The track marks the first collaboration the two have ever recorded together. Buble, a fellow Canadian Anka discovered, was ecstatic to join the legendary singer on a rendition of Anka's signature "(You Are My) Destiny," pairing the two classic crooners together for the first time on disc.

The CD also features "I Am Not Anyone" a striking and miraculous duet with the late great Sammy Davis Jr. Originally written for Sammy Davis Jr. by Anka in 1973, this interpretation features new vocals by Paul, as well as a new arrangement, making it one of the CD's most memorable moments.

To date, Anka has recorded 125 albums, including over 10 albums in Japanese, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, composing songs culturally tailored to each country. He has sold over 40 million albums, CDs and singles worldwide. Among his Billboard chart stats in the U.S. are three #1 songs, "Diana," "Lonely Boy," and "You're Having My Baby," as well as 22 Top 20 hits.

Anka also has a staggering 900 songs to his credit--130 recorded by other artists including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, and Robbie Williams. He is particularly well-known for penning signature songs for others, notably "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (Buddy Holly), "She's a Lady" (Tom Jones), "Puppy Love" (Donny Osmond) and, of course, "My Way" (Frank Sinatra).

At 65, Anka shows no sign of slowing down. He works not for fun, not to eat, but because one must. However, these days he works when he wants to work, where he wants to work. "I perform because I still need to," he says. "It's one of those things that's in your blood. Because, in the beginning, people didn't come to see me because I was a performer. They came to see me because I had a hit song. Now they come because they know I'll give them a performance like no one else."

Anka was born July 30, 1941 in Ottawa, Canada's capitol. His family-parents Andy and Camelia Anka, and younger siblings Mariam and Andy, Jr. was very close, much like Ottawa's nascent but tight-knit Lebanese community to which they belonged. One of the community's meeting spots in the '50s was the family's two-storey restaurant and lounge, the Locanda downtown. At 13, Anka, who wanted to be a singer and a songwriter, would promise visiting pop acts free meals at the restaurant.

His formal music studies were brief: piano with Winnifred Rees and theory with Frederick Karam in whose St. Elijah Syrian Orthodox Church choir he sang. Whenever a rock and roll show came through Ottawa, Anka was there, trying to get backstage to meet his idols.

At 16, Anka returned to New York City, carrying with him "Diana," a song written about his crush on an older high school friend. He stayed with the Rover Boys-sleeping in the bathtub of their suite at the President Hotel--and eventually met with Don Costa, then handling A&R at ABC-Paramount Records.

That fateful New York meeting changed Anka's life forever. "Diana" became his first single for ABC- Paramount. Released in 1957, it sold over 10 million copies, and launched Anka's career as an international teen idol.

Anka soon established himself as a successful artist and songwriter, penning his Top 10 U.S. hits "You Are My Destiny," "Lonely Boy," "Put Your Head On My Shoulder," "Puppy Love," "My Home Town," and "Dance on Little Girl." "He just couldn't write a bad song," Costa recalled in 1975.

During the '50s, Anka appeared frequently on Dick Clark's ABC-TV "American Bandstand" show. In 1959, Anka was part of the ill-fated "Winter Dance Party" tour along with Buddy Holly, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Ritchie Valens, Dion and the Belmonts, and others. On February 3, shortly after a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Holly, Richardson and Valens boarded a small aircraft chartered to take them to their next performance. Soon after take-off, the plane crashed killing all aboard.

A few months earlier, on Oct. 21, 1958, Anka had been at the New York session in which Holly had recorded his song "It Doesn't Matter Anymore." "The success of "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" gave me a broader parameter of credibility as a writer," recalls Anka. "Buddy wanted to do something like I did with 'You Are My Destiny' with the violins. So I wrote 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore'."

In 1962, Anka left ABC-Paramount, a departure that sent shock waves through the music industry. In leaving ABC-Paramount, Anka purchased his masters and publishing-an unheard of feat in those days. It set him back $250,000. He signed a landmark deal with RCA Victor whereby he produced his own finished masters through his own Camy Productions for release on RCA.

At RCA, he attempted to become a mainstream pop singer but only had handful of mid-chart hits including "Love Me Warm And Tender," "A Steel Guitar And A Glass of Wine," and "Eso Beso."

However, he appeared in several films, most notably in the 1962 war drama "The Longest Day" in which he wrote the theme song for and received an Oscar nomination. In 1962, when Johnny Carson made his debut as host of NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show," Anka's contributed one of most recognized theme songs in television history.

By the mid '60s, the pop culture tidal wave caused by the Beatles wiped Anka and other teen singers off the pop charts. Anka, however, had enough credentials built up to survive. Okay, he wasn't topping the charts anymore in the U.S. but he was working Las Vegas for three weeks at a time, and hanging out with Frank Sinatra and Rat Pack (that included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford) while earning more money than when he had hits.

Anka also focused on his songwriting, and spent more time in Europe and Asia where his appeal never waned.

In 1963, Anka married fashion model Anne de Zogheb in Paris. The couple moved to Italy in 1964, and over the next few years Anka spent considerable time in France and England. His song "Ogni Volta," was a hit in Italy in 1964, selling four million copies, and winning the San Remo Song Festival.

What ultimately turned Anka's career around in North America was penning "My Way" for Sinatra in 1969, as well as "She's A Lady" for Tom Jones in 1971.

In the 70's, Anka had another wave of chart-topping hits in the U.S. starting with "(You're) Having My Baby," the sentimental song about the impending joys of fatherhood which went to #1 on Billboard. It was followed by "One Man Woman, One Woman Man," (with Odia Coates), "I Don't Like to Sleep Alone," "(I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger than Our Love," and "Times of Your Life."

Anka's chart success held through the '80s with "Hold Me 'Til The Morning Comes," a duet with Peter Cetera in 1983. Among his later releases were the 1996 Spanish-language album "Amigos"; "Body of Work" in 1998, featuring duets with Celine Dion, Patti LaBelle, Tom Jones, Anthea Anka, and Frank Sinatra; and "Anka Live 2000," recorded during a worldwide tour.

In 2005, Anka created one of the best albums of his career. Rock Swings had Anka performing big-band, crooner-style interpretations of songs by Nirvana, Van Halen, the Cure, and Oasis. Anka explains, "When people get past the smirk and the joke, they realize there's a great quality to this CD. They hear the quality of the musicianship, and the arrangements."

"Paul made those songs his own," said Universal Music Canada president Randy Lennox. "When I first heard the album my immediate thought was, 'What inspired song choices this man has made.' I was also amazed at the renditions, and the arrangements within these songs."

Universal Music Canada Director of Jazz Scott Morin who co-coordinated the international roll-out of the album added, "I knew immediately that this was a record done for credibility, not for kitsch. It's truly another step up in Mr. Anka's career."

Rock Swings was a stylish recording put together with a band that knows to stress rhythmic clarity, and fluent dynamics. Each song was tailored to Anka's warm and deepened voice. The result was total credibility. You simply forget what the originals sound like.

If Anka is meticulous, if he is marvelously disciplined, those qualities have stood him in good stead throughout his professional life. What he achieved in Rock Swings came from digging, digging and evaluating these contemporary songs on their own terms, rather against pop classics from previous eras.

"These are great songs that are meaningful to a generation of music fans," Anka says. "Let's not pin them up against Cole Porter. The times are different." "A good song is a good song. And they usually can be done several ways."

Anka was equally meticulous in recording. He insisted on working at Capitol Tower Studios in Los Angeles-where Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Bobby Darin had recorded in the '50s.

It is a career in which he transformed himself from being a '50s teen idol into a superb vocal musician recognized around the world, and one of most successful pop songwriters in history. Recent honors include Anka being awarded the prestigious Order of Canada and receiving a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.

Beside Anka having five grown daughters, he is now the proud father of a 16 month old, Ethan, plus he is blessed with four young grandchildren. "Oh man, I'm thankful for that new passage of my life," he says. "I love my grandchildren madly. They bring such joy into my life that it's unbelievable. I can't say enough about them."