The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
He’s doing it his way
Lifelong hitmaker Paul Anka celebrating Sinatra on tour
Paul Anka is as humble as they come.
“I was not a good-looking kid,” the 77-year-old said in a recent phone interview. “Just a little cute guy singing songs.”
He was only 15 when his first No. 1 single, “Diana,” hit the airwaves in 1957. Even younger than 22-year-old Elvis Presley, who had become an international icon the year before.
Anka’s career could have coasted off the swooning teenage girls and his own hits alone. “Puppy Love.” “Lonely Boy.” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.”
But instead, he doubled up on the legacy-making and wrote smash hits for some other influential artists.
Anka is the man behind Michael Jackson’s “This Is it.”
He wrote Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.”
He’s the one who scored Tom Jones his No. 1 hit “She’s a Lady.”
And, of course, he gave “Ol’ Blues Eyes” his legendary “My Way.”
On his current tour, which on Oct. 25 brings him to the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park, Anka has decided to pay tribute to Frank Sinatra by dedicating 50 minutes of his set list to the late crooner.
Most recently, Anka had an unexpected collaboration with rapper Drake.
Drake’s “Scorpion” album, which dropped earlier this year, featured “Don’t Matter to Me” an unreleased Michael Jackson track originally recorded around the “Thriller” era.
The track came from some 1983 recording sessions Jackson had with, you guessed it, Anka.
Anka chatted about Drake, Jackson, and, of course Sinatra in a recent phone call.
Q You’ve had a long and very productive career. I imagine every audience member has a favorite era. Is it tough to cover that much ground in one show?
A It’s a challenge. It’s realistically impossible. So what you do is — I guess eclectically — go through each decade, depending on where we’re performing. If we’re performing in Europe, South America, Asia, it’s all different. If it’s in the states, it’s kind of doing your homework.
I started in Cleveland with Bill Randle in 1957, so
I’ve got some kind of roots there and relatives and a following that I’ve had. Then everything that’s going on with this new Sinatra concept, it kind of eats into what would normally be my material. Now that we’re dedicating a good portion of the evening to him, I’ve eaten up maybe 50 minutes.
Q You obviously worked with Frank Sinatra. Where did the inspiration come from to do a set of his songs for your current tour?
A Well, I’ve known him since ‘59, ‘60. He was like a mentor. I worked with him, the Rat Pack all these years.
So, I said “OK, this year” — and I’ve had it in my mind for quite a few years — “I wanna do an evening of Sinatra stuff and keep that stuff going.” But I didn’t wanna give it all up, or my audience wasn’t gonna hear {my catalog).
Q Your style is Vegas crooner, but you made music during a time when protest music was a staple in popular music. Do you think we’ll see a rise of protest music again since we’re facing a polarizing time again in politics?
A I don’t think that music itself has the strength that it had back then. Or even in the power that it held in terms of politics and where people wanted to land and what they embraced. I think that’s gone.
Q Why do you think that is?
A Well it’s just not happening. Black experience is driving all of music. It always has, every decade.
I mean not everybody is sitting back and listening to what they’re saying and buying it – when you’re tearing women apart and calling them b ****** and you know, all that crap. So how seriously can we take it in terms of everyone uniting together behind one song or what, I don’t think so. It’s (protest music) just not driving the way it did years ago. ANKA » PAGE 7
Q Protest music seemed to be an anchor years ago, but now, maybe, we’ll hear some political messaging in a song, but it’s really not the focus of the song.
A And it doesn’t change anything socially whatsoever. Nothing.
Q It seemed that music used to pull politics and social changes in certain directions decades ago.
A Yeah, it did years ago. It really had power. Today, there’s no power. It’s all commercial.
I got a huge hit right now with Drake — one song on the “Scorpion” album that’s doing phenomenal but it’s just a commercial song with Michael Jackson that I wrote and that’s that.
Q How was working with Drake?
A It was cool. Nice guy.
Q What about working with Michael Jackson? What was that like?
A Oh, Michael. I like Michael. I knew Michael for years. He and his family would come to my show in Vegas. I spent a lot of time with him and I liked him. He was a talented guy. It’s a shame. I was very fond of him.
Q You worked with many great people over the years. When you were only 16, you toured with Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. Were you prepared for all that success so soon?
A Yes and no. Certainly a challenge. I had a
good upbringing, good parents. It was a time where you could get protected with people around you. I was the youngest kid. All these guys were older than me. Even the Beatles were my age or older.
But with the success that happened as a kid, you did the best you can. You know, nobody’s born sophisticated in my industry. You have to get lucky or have a talent or whatever. And then you’re clawing your way for years and years along that road of success and experience to try to learn something, get some wisdom of how to deal with it.
You’re not prepared for that kind of stuff at all. You just gotta keep your nose clean and make a few mistakes and say “Wow, I’m very lucky, very fortunate. Now I need to not be an (expletive).” Everybody’s catering to you, there for every move. What do you need? What do you want?
It’s tough. I just said, “No drugs. No bad habits and let me stay focused.”
Q Yeah, it seems that usually when people find that much success at a young age, they aren’t able to sustain it for half as long as you have.
A It’s tough. Very tough. I just I did a lot of keeping myself in check. I was the writer, so that kind of helped me. When I started writing, I was a little reporter and my dad wanted me to be a journalist, so I worked at the newspaper.
I was not a good-looking kid. Just a little cute guy singing songs but once it happened for me, my whole background was as a writer and a creator and I think that’s what helped me sustain. Otherwise, I certainly was not one of the pretty boys.
Q A lot of people remember your movie
roles. Why not make more movies? Too busy with music?
A Well, exactly. I did “The Longest Day” and a bunch of movies, and I realized I was sitting around for, like, 18 hours to do one minute. I couldn’t get to my piano. I couldn’t write. I said, “You know what? I’ll do this when I wanna do it as a kick, but I need to make music.” I can sit in the studio and just create for hours, and stuff comes out. {Acting) is a strange profession for me because you get all dressed up in funny uniforms. It’s a strange occupation as far as I’m concerned.
Q Where do you go next? You’ve had phenomenal success for so long. Is there any other arena you haven’t tried yet that you’re interested in?
A Well, you know, what I tell everyone for years now is that I don’t
work. I don’t have a job. It’s my passion. I do it to keep myself sharp and because we do what we do very well. It’s a very highenergy show. So where do you go? I’ve got my book that was on The New York Times Best Sellers list. People might want to do a movie or Broadway, so we’re talking about that.
I’ve got a 13-year-old boy that I’m madly in love with. I put all my time in there. I’ve changed my whole life to get him to be a good citizen. So I don’t work like I used to. Then I just stay healthy with my family. I go out now and do this tour until March on and off.
Then I’ll go in the studio and write some more songs and just do that. I don’t really want to do more than that. I’ve done it all. I’ve been very fortunate at beating the odds, you know?