Paul Anka: from teen star to Frank Sinatra's songwriter

A hit song is not something a musician usually gives away willingly, but that's just what Paul Ankadid for Frank Sinatra.

Anka, of course, is known for songs spanning his teen-idol years and well beyond.Anka, who turns 79 on July 30, 2020, would later write She's a Lady for Welsh heartthrob Tom Jones. But his first big giveaway wasMy Way, the 1969 song that became Sinatra's signature.

As he told Valerie Pringle for CBC's Midday in 1991, Ankaobtained the rights to the melody of a 1967 French song called Commed'habitude for no charge and added the song's introspective lyrics during a marathon late-night session at his piano."I finished it around 5:30 in the morning and I started crying," Ankasaid. "Because I knew I had such a hit."

Sinatra recorded the resultand scored a massive successon the charts in both the U.S.and U.K.

Paul Anka, teen singing sensation

67 years ago

Duration 1:11

The 16-year-old from Ottawa talks about the kinds of fan mail he gets.

Before that, a lonely boy

Anka's hitmakingstarted early: at 16, the kid from Ottawa had his first number 1 hit in the United StateswithDiana, a song about a slightly older object of affection. Hot on Diana's heels were Lonely Boy and Put Your Head on My Shoulder.

In the 1957 clip above he described the letters he got from fans so many that his mother helped answer his mail, writing up to 500 responses in a week. Fans would invite Anka to visit them at home orask for one of his ties as a souvenir, enclosing a dollar as reimbursement.

Ankaalso described the fans who turned up at the shows he was touringin at the time on a marquee with the likes of the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and the Drifters.

"They know they're going for a good time because these are the artists they've heard on records and they've seen on TV and rock 'n' roll is the kind of thing that stimulates you to clap your hands and whistle," he said.