Born in Ottawa on 30 July 1941; Paul Anka is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. At Easter 1957 he signed a contract with ABC-Paramount in New York; his first single, “Diana”, was a huge success. He wrote “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” for Buddy Holly, who had a number-one hit with it in 1959, “She’s a Lady”, a hit for Tom Jones in 1971, and “Johnny’s Theme” for “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson; with “Diana”, “Lonely Boy” and “(You’re) Having My Baby” he himself reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 three times. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993, received its Johnny Mercer Award in 2008 and the BMI Icon Award in 2026; he is a member of the Order of Canada. On the gala recording Doc Heilein and Friends Gala 2023 – Ich will keine Schokolade (2023) Ricardo Marinello, Tomas Kildisius, Dennis LeGree and Matthias Heilein sing “My Way”, which he created in 1968 from the chanson “Comme d’habitude” by Claude François, Jacques Revaux and Gilles Thibaut: he had heard the song in Paris, acquired the rights and wrote English lyrics for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it on 30 December 1968.
Paul Anka
Composer
