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Paul Anka’s Paul Anka's keeping his eye on technology, weighing the pluses and minuses for a changing music industry.
doing it his way
New Year’s eve
Quirks and advances of the
business haven't jaded himMore ways to celebrate
By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin"There's going to be a huge impact (on the record business), but I think once they settle what's just in terms of royalties and who gets what it's going to be a big plus.
"You can put yourself on the map from anywhere today. Look at Florida today and all the impact of the artists out of that state or the impact Nirvana had out of Seattle," he said during a phone call from Los Angeles. After 43 years in the music business Anka doesn't have to do interviews, particularly for a New Year's Eve one-nighter, but he's sounds genuinely enthusiastic.
He embraces the access provided by technology (see www.paulanka.com) but is less enthusiastic about those who would use technology as a substitute for talent.
"I won't give you names, but if you're a female today who's got a great body, and you're marketable because of whatever, then we'll give you the voice, don't worry about that. That's why you have such a kick back from the audience when they go to a concert (and the singer is lip-synching).
ON STAGE
Who: Paul Anka
"That's the downside of the technology. Today the technology has taken over from blood sweat and tears."
Anka will bring real, not virtual talent when he performs at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.
If Anka ever decides to retire from the entertainment biz, he could be an instant success as a motivational speaker. As he shares his experiences he is in effect conducting a fascinating tutorial on how to succeed in the music business.
Anka was a teen-ager in Canada with an interest in journalism and dreams of a recording career when he left Ottawa for New York City and starting knocking on doors. He was 15 when he was signed by ABC-Paramount and barely 16 when he topped the Billboard Hot 100 with "Diana" in 1957. He made Billboard's Top 10 six more times in the next three years.
The late '50s were a time when photogenic "teen idols" were as interchangeable and easily manufactured as "boy bands" and teen divas are today. Anka was unusual. He was as good looking as any "idol" on the scene, and he had a good voice, but he was also a talented songwriter. All of his early hits were songs he wrote. He found an excellent mentor and friend in arranger/conductor Don Costa.
"He was able to teach me and tell me where to go and where not to go in terms of music because the framework and the base of those arrangements is half the battle. Nelson Riddle and Sinatra (had the) same scenario."
Anka and Costa collaborated on a string of hits that began with "Diana" and continued through "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" in 1959. "Lonely Boy" became Anka's second No. 1 hit when it topped the Hot 100 for four weeks in 1959. "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" peaked at No. 2 for three weeks later that year.
Most fans know that Anka wrote "Diana" for a real-life "older woman" who was four years his senior. The story behind the 1963 sequel, "Remember Diana," is less well known. Anka recorded it after he moved to RCA in the early '60s. "Remember Diana" peaked at No. 39 early in 1963.
"The record company had the idea that there was some kind of closure to the initial tune and they thought it would be interesting. They gave me the title and I wrote it. I don't know that it was such a good idea but you're young and you do it."
"'Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention,'" he adds of the experience.
The quote of course is from "My Way," the song he wrote for Frank Sinatra. It is probably the most popular song Anka wrote for another artist, although Tom Jones had the biggest hit of his career when Anka wrote "She's A Lady" for him in 1971. Anka also wrote songs for Sammy Davis Jr. and Barbra Streisand, and "The Tonight Show" theme for Johnny Carson. Anka's versions of several songs he wrote as hits for other artists can be heard on "Live 2000" which is one of his most recent albums.
Anka explains that he owns his own catalog and masters, and therefore has control over how his older work is packaged and marketed. He recently released "Greatest Hits" which includes the re-mastered original recordings of his '50s hits and also several newly recorded songs. Another recent project, "Christmas Classics," is his 1959 "It's Christmas Everywhere" album remastered with five new tracks added.
Along the way he has been ranked by Billboard as the 21st most successful singles artist of the rock era.
Anka's account of how he earned an Academy Award nomination for best film score for "The Longest Day" is a perfect example of the kind of perseverance it's taken for Anka to stay in the business for 43 years without becoming an oldies act. He was barely 20 when he was cast along with several other young other singers in Darryl F. Zanuck's recreation of the Allies' D-Day invasion of Europe in World War II. Anka thought the film needed a title song. Zanuck didn't.
Anka didn't give up. He told Zanuck he already had a song in mind. Zanuck wasn't interested.
Would Zanuck listen to it if he recorded it? No.
Anka recorded "The Longest Day" anyway, sent it to Zanuck, gave him a little time, and then called to ask what he thought of it.
Anka's idea became the title song. He says he knew all along there was no way the Hollywood establishment was going to give an Oscar for best score to "some kid" but getting the nomination was vindication enough.
That was almost 40 years ago. Anka says he'll be as busy as ever in 2001. His most recent film project, "3,000 Miles to Graceland," starring Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and Christian Slater, is scheduled for release in February with Anka appearing at the film's Las Vegas premiere. His music will also be heard in another film "Table One," which is due out later this year. And he'll continue to perform.
Despite his success as a composer and recording artist, Anka says that the "immediate gratification" of performing for an audience is still his first love.
And the music business?
"When I was starting it was tough. We (early rock artists) were the pioneers. We were only accepted by our fans and then we were totally attacked by the periphery. We weren't accepted by the media.
"Today, everyone's out looking not only for a 16-year-old or a 14-year-old (but) there's true definition of what they need to market (to a particular age group). It's marketing and it's commercial but you're never going to stop each generation creating whatever the music is.
"It's like a freight train -- just step aside and let it in."
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