Internationally-famous singer/songwriter Paul Anka will need no introduction when he takes the stage at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on December 10 and 11 to sing all of his hits and holiday favorites.
In 1957, when Anka was a 16 year old teenager, his first number one hit, “Diana,” made him a star. Soon after, he hopped on the “Cavalcade of Stars” bus with top names of the day in the era of segregation, performing at the Copa Cabana, the youngest entertainer ever to do so, and honing his craft surrounded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lyman, and Chuck Berry.
“They are all very autobiographical,” says Anka about his early hits. “I was alone, traveling, girls screaming, and I never got near them. I’m a teenager and feeling isolated and all that. That becomes (his song) ‘Lonely Boy.’ At record hops, I’m up on stage and all these kids are holding each other with heads on each other’s shoulders. Then I have to go have dinner in my room because there are thousands of kids outside the hotel — ‘Put Your Head on My Shoulder’ was totally that experience.”
By the time the Beatles arrived in the sixties, Anka luckily had another tool in his survival kit. Many artists didn’t survive the Beatles era. “After a few hits, I knew I was a writer, and with writers, the power was always in the pen,” he said.
“When I started writing for Buddy Holly and Connie Francis, I felt that it made me different for people — they’d say, ‘Hey, you can write, you can fall back on something.”
Becoming a junior associate of Sinatra and the Rat Pack also had its privileges. By the ’70’s, the success of “My Way,” a song he wrote for Sinatra, and a string of hits like “(You’re) Having My Baby” confirmed his status as an icon of popular music.
His other achievements — the theme for The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, Tom Jones big hit, “She’s a Lady,” and “Hold Me ‘Til the Morning Comes,” a duet with Peter Cetera in 1983, among many others.
In 1998, Anka’s album, “Body of Work,” featured duets with Sinatra, Celine Dion, Patti LaBelle, and Tom Jones.
It was revealed upon its release in 2009, that Anka also co-wrote Michael Jackson’s posthumous number one worldwide hit, “This is It,” which has further cemented his place upon the most prolific and versatile songwriters of any generation.
And now, you can add author to to his list of accomplishments and read his book, “My Way: An Autobiography.”
For more information, go to: http://sabanconcerts.com/
Steven LIeberman is a veteran sports/arts/entertainment journalist. Lieberman has covered entertainment and professional sports, Including the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, for the past 14 years. Among his entertainment work, Lieberman covers concerts, theatre and events.