PAUL ANKA Debut Album + Bonus

Original Released on LP ABC Paramount 240
(US, 1958)

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 / Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine," appeared in 1956 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.

His next big hit came in 1958 when "You Are My Destiny" made the Top Ten. Paul's clean good looks and fresh image gave music lovers a teen idol who was an alternative to the bad boy image of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. But as things would turn out, Paul Anka was more than just a pretty face, he was also a very good songwriter. So good in fact that even Buddy Holly recorded a tune that Paul had written, "It Doesn't Matter Any More". Anka also appeared in one of the biggest rock n' roll shows of its time, "The Winter Dance Party", featuring Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, Dion and the Belmonts, and others. Fate sidestepped Anka when his manager, Irvin Feld, told him that he wanted him to stay behind because he'd promised his father he'd keep an eye on him, thus missing the fateful plane crash of February 3, 1959 that killed Holly, the Big Bopper and Valens.