43
Legendary songwriter, performer Paul Anka returns to Youngstown
By John Benson
For some folks, Paul Anka is the teen pop star known for hit songs “Diana,” “Lonely Boy” and “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” and later, “Times of Your Life” and “Having My Baby.”
However, the singer-songwriter accomplished more in the past 60 years than many of his peers did in a lifetime. In addition to his own songs, Anka wrote the iconic theme song to “The Tonight Show,” as well as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and Tom Jones’ “She’s A Lady.”
Anka, who was named one of Billboard’s most successful artists of the 21st century, alongside Elvis Presley and The Beatles, is the only artist in history to have a song reach the Billboard Top 100 in six separate decades.
The legend returns to Youngstown on Wednesday for a show at Powers Auditorium. The Vindicator recently talked to Anka about his love of the Mahoning Valley, his memories of Buddy Holly and how long he plans to go on having the time of his life.
Q. First of all, what are your memories of Youngstown?
A. I’ve been to Youngstown quite a few times in my rock ’n’ roller days. I have a history there but ,more important, I have a lot of friends there. The DeBartolo family are great friends, and I have other friends there. I’ve been coming to Ohio for many years, from age 16 on. So yes, it’s going to be kind of like coming home.
Q. Sadly, Buddy Holly would have been 80 years old this year. What are your memories of touring with him before his death?
A. Buddy, for my money, was probably the most talented and influential of the young artists. He was someone I was going to start a music company with. He’s the one when we traveled who gave me the guitar and taught me some chords. I wrote “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” which unfortunately became the last song he ever recorded. I had a very close relationship with him. And certainly a segment of the music in me did die with Buddy. We were hit hard when that happened. When I met the Beatles before they came over here, one of the first things they asked was about Buddy Holly. He was far-reaching in his influence, and he was a friend that took a long time to get over.
Q. What’s interesting about your career is you started off as a teen idol singer, but unlike many of your peers, you enjoyed career longevity.
A. What I learned pretty quickly was you’re not going to be around if you don’t do certain things because that was the nature of show business. So I was writing, and my buddies weren’t. They had guys twice their age writing for them. Even Elvis Presley. I was writing and producing my own stuff. And I wasn’t sold as a teenage idol with looks and all of that. I started writing with Buddy Holly. Then the stuff for Connie Francis, “The Tonight Show Theme,” and then I was nominated for an Academy Award for “The Longest Day.” All of that stuff I realized I was separate from the rest of the pack. So what I did was really got down to honing in by performing. And I wound up the youngest in Las Vegas. Once I hit Vegas at The Sands, where The Rat Pack was, I had all of that going for me. People looked at me differently in terms of longevity and a songwriting foundation, as opposed to the other dynamics there were with other teen idols. I worked on that very hard to establish myself as that kind of a performer.
Q. It’s safe to say with “My Way” you’re the only artist to have a song that both Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious recorded.
A. I must say I was jolted at the moment a producer called me and they wanted to use it, record it. I looked at it with a much different view. I’ve always respected the fact there’s always going to be other types of musicians, other types of music. You have to be open to that. And upon my investigating of it, he did it his way in what he felt at that time was his way. I could have stopped him and not issued the license. But my thought process was it’s one of those songs that impacts your life, and if someone wants to jump all over it, go for it.
Q. Finally, how long do you plan on touring?
A. I don’t look at life that way. I’m moving the same way I did years ago, traveling. When you have an occupation or something you’re doing with a passion, you don’t really have a back nine. You are with your life, but not in terms of your talent because art has no time at all. So I look at it just how your health is. My health is good, and the audiences are there. I watched Sinatra retire three or four times, and unfortunately he wasn’t healthy at the end. That’s the criteria for me. That’s the big game changer for everybody. We’re all living a life lottery. I just want to keep working. And the audiences are just amazing. So who would walk away from that?