Paul Anka Included: Press Package Page 2 Selected Critical Acclaim Page 3 Paul Anka Facts Page 9 Paul Anka Biography Web: Website: http://www.paulanka.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/paulankaofficial YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/paulankatv 1
2 SELECTED CRITICAL ACCLAIM * Paul Anka is the quintessential performer-entertainer, a master of presentation. Joe Delaney, The Las Vegas Sun, USA One of the most entertaining evenings of the year. Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, UK (His) ability to seize and hold a stage only seems to deepen with the passage of time it was evident that Anka was playing the room as a virtuoso plays a fiddle and relishing every minute of it. Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, USA Anka rocked the stadium, devoured the stage, and redefined what it means to give the audience its money s worth. Ben Shalev, Haaretz, Israel He is a polished performer, confident but not brash. There is charm and a voice that easily handles sentimental and swing songs. Mr. Anka could give lessons on showmanship. Milton Esterow, The New York Times, USA Anka is still a powerful performer who does what he does with consummate skill. Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times, USA Look in the dictionary under crowd pleaser and there s bound to be a very tanned, tiny picture of Paul Anka staring back at you. Jane Stevenson, Toronto Sun, Canada The vibrant and sexy voice stays strong Anka, a graduate of the school of vocally perfected performers, does justice to any type of song he sings with great dignity. One is taken by the vocal and performance expertise An hour and a half of pure entertainment at its best, quite overwhelming. Yomiyuri Newspaper, Japan Paul Anka, charming always a pioneer
Stephane Davet, Le Monde, France * Paul Anka is continuously featured across national and international media outlets. If you require full printed media and/or online press articles, live performance and/or recent television appearance video coverage, please contact Emily at office@paulanka.com. 3 PAUL ANKA FACTS From BMI: Since inception of his career, his songs have been performed well over 100 million times collectively worldwide. (BMI statistic) His LP and single sales collectively number more than 90 million (BMI statistic). With well over 500 songs to his credit, the most memorable are Put Your Head On My Shoulder, My Way, and the famous theme from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Recorded over 126 albums worldwide. From Billboard: Named the 21 st most successful artist in Billboard s history, putting him alongside music greats Elvis Presley and the Beatles. (Billboard statistic) Duets debuted #95 on US Billboard Top 200 Chart and #89 on the Top Current Albums Chart Only artist in history to have a song in the Billboard Top 100 during 7 consecutive decades. Songs Charted on Billboard top 100: #40 - Hold Me til the Mornin Comes on September 3, 1983 #48 I ve Been Waiting For You All of My Life on May 23, 1981 #35 This Is Love on December 2, 1978 #75 Everybody Ought To Be In Love on August 6, 1977 #80 My Best Friend s Wife on May 7, 1977 #60 Happier on January 22, 1977 #33 Anytime (I ll Be There) on May 15, 1976 #7 Times Of Your Life on February 7, 1976 #80 Let Me Get To Know You on February 16, 1974 #65 Jubilation on May 6, 1972 #53 Do I Love You on November 27, 1971 # 86 Happy on December 6, 1969 #80 Sincerely on June 21, 1969 #64 In The Still Of The Night on April 19, 1969
#27 Goodnight My Love on February 22, 1969 #89 Did You Have A Happy Birthday? On December 14, 1963 #97 Hello Jim on June 29, 1963 #39 Remember Diana on May 25, 1963 #26 Love (Makes the World Go Round) on February 16, 1963 #19 Eso Beso (That Kiss!) on December 8, 1962 #46 Every Night (Without You) on September 22, 1962 #94 I m Coming Home on August 25, 1962 #13 A Steel Guitar And A Glass of Wine on July 7, 1962 #12 Love Me Warm And Tender on April 7, 1962 #70 Cinderella on October 14, 1961 #35 Kissin On The Phone on September 16, 1961 #10 Dance On Little Girl on July 15, 1961 #13 Tonight My Love, Tonight on May 6, 1961 #16 The Story Of My Love on February 25, 1961 #11 Summer s Gone on November 5, 1960 #40 I Love You In The Same Old Way on September 17, 1960 #23 Hello Young Lovers on September 3, 1960 #8 My Home Town on July 9, 1960 #41 Something Happened on July 2, 1960 #90 Adam and Eve on April 16, 1960 #2 Puppy Love on April 9, 1960 #4 It s Time To Cry on January 2, 1960 #2 Put Your Head On My Shoulder on October 10, 1959 #1 Lonely Boy on July 18, 1959 #33 I Miss You So on May 2, 1959 #15 (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings on February 7, 1959 #80 Just Young on October 25, 1958 #69 Midnight on August 23, 1958 Misc Awards & Achievements: To list a few impressive awards: Recipient of Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. Recipient of Star on Canadian Walk of Fame. Appointed to The ORDER OF CANADA. Recipient of prestigious French Country and Government Award presented to very few people: Chevalier De L Ordre Des Arts Et Des Letters. April 27 th deemed Paul Anka Day in Canada. Honorary Ambassador of Tourism in Canada Received The Prestigious Johnny Mercer Award at the 2008 Song Writers Hall of Fame. Individual Stats: My Way - #27 on Billboard Chart (Sinatra version) on chart for 8 weeks 3/29/1969 and over 6 months in British chart. 4
It Doesn t Matter Anymore - #13 on chart for 4-weeks 2/1959 (Buddy Holly version); Top #10 on British chart. Put Your Head On My Shoulder - #2 USA, Canada chart; #5 Worldwide; BMI Award over 2 million Broadcast Awards. Destiny - #7 U.S.; Top #10 worldwide; Puppy Love - #2 U.S.; Top #5 worldwide; BMI Broadcast Award for Over 1 million plays. Lonely Boy - #1 in U.S.; Top #5 worldwide; BMI Broadcast Award Over 1 million performances. Having My Baby - #1 in U.S.; Top #10 worldwide; BMI Broadcast Award Over 2 million performances. She s A Lady Only #1 record Tom Jones ever had in U.S. & Canada; BMI Broadcast Award Over 1 million performance. Diana - #1 worldwide; #1 on all charts (Pop, Rhythm & Blues etc.); BMI Broadcast Award Over 2 million performances. Duets, released in 2013 and debuted #6 on the Canadian Top 200 Soundscan album charts Duets debuted #95 on US Billboard Top 200 Chart and #89 on the Top Current Albums Chart Top 10 Hits: 12 (U.S only) Top 20 Hits: 22 (U.S. only) Top 40 Hits: 33 (U.S. only) 5
Top 20 Hits: Diana (1) You Are My Destiny (7) Crazy Love (15) Let the Bells Keep Ringing (16), My Heart Sings (15), Lonely Boy (1), Put Your Head On My Shoulder (2), It s Time To Cry (4), Puppy Love (2), My Home Town (8), Summer s Gone (11), The Story of My Love (16), Tonight My Love Tonight (13), Dance On Little Girl (10), Love Me Warm and Tender (12), A Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine (13), Eso Beso (19) Having My Baby (1), One Man Woman (7), I Don t Like to Sleep Alone (8), Nothing Stronger Than Our Love (15), Times of Your Life (7) Hold Me Til The Morning Comes (40) [Before the age of 18, he had five Top-20 Hits] Rock Swings: The critically acclaimed album was released in June of 2005 and went on to hit #120 on the Billboard 200, #9 on the Official UK Album Chart, #2 on Billboard s Top Jazz Albums Chart, and #1 on Amazon.de. It was certified Gold in Canada, the US, Great Britain, France, and other foreign markets. 6
Amigos/Body Of Work: These Spanish and English duet albums feature collaborations with artists such as Celine Dion, Kenny G, Barry Gibb, Patti LaBelle, Peter Cetera, Julio Iglesias etc. Hold Me Til The Mornin Comes went to #40 on the Billboard Charts. Amigos reached #11 on the Latin Pop Billboard Charts. The albums are certified gold. MY WAY has been recorded /performed by over 500 artists worldwide. To name a few: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sid Vicious, Nina Simone, Gypsy Kings, Robbie Williams. Songs recorded by: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Buddy Holly, Donny Osmond, Annette Funicello, Tom Jones, The Doobie Brothers, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Sammy Davis Jr. just to name a few. Collaborated with songwriters: David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald, Sammy Cahn, Kenny Logins, Burt Bacharach and many others. Executive Producer on worldwide platinum artist, Michael Buble s debut album. International recordings: Has recorded many different language albums, including Japanese, German, Spanish, French and Italian. To date he has sold more than 15 million albums and over 3 million singles of the Italian song Ogni Volta, which was the 1 st million copy seller in 1963 in the history of Italian records. It went on to sell close to three million copies. Film and TV: Written for films: 3,000 Miles to Graceland, The Longest Day (nominated for Academy Award), Girls Town, No Way Out, The theme song for Atlantic City (Louis Malle). Tonight Show Theme (1962) was performed over 1,400,000 times. Most recognized theme song in history. 7
The Golden Bowl : A Japanese Series created for Saturday night Prime Time demographics of actors and audiences in their mid-twenties, was based around his music for the second largest TV market in the world. This Is It : Most recently Co-wrote with Michael Jackson the title song to Jackson s film and CD, one of the biggest sellers of 2010. And followed up by Michael Jackson s, Love Never Felt So Good, written with Jackson. The song has reached #1 in over 50 countries! My Way Autobiography Charts In its first week, his autobiography, My Way, hit #6 during the week of April 28 th on The New York Times Bestseller List. My Way hit # 2 on the Globe & Mail non-fiction list its first week and was #1 on the Canadian Non-Fiction chart. 8
9 Paul Anka Biography Born July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Canada, into a close-knit family, Paul Anka didn t waste time getting his life in music started. From an early age he sang in a choir, studied piano and honed his writing skills with journalism courses, even working as a cub reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. By 13, he had his own vocal group, the Bobbysoxers. Blinded by determination, he would steal his mother s car and drive to perform at every amateur night he could. Soon after, he won a trip to New York by winning a Campbell s soup contest that required him to spend three months collecting soup can labels. It was there that his dream to make it as a singer composer was solidified. There was not a doubt in his young tenacious mind. In 1956, he convinced his parents to let him travel to Los Angeles, where a meeting with Modern Records led to the release of Anka s first single, Blau-Wile Deverest Fontaine. Although it was not a hit, Anka kept plugging away. He went so far as to sneak into Fats Domino s dressing room in Ottawa to meet him
and his manager. When Anka returned to New York in 1957, he scored a meeting with Don Costa, the A&R representative for ABC-Paramount Records, playing him a batch of songs that included Diana. Costa was duly enthusiastic about the potential of the young singer and songwriter. The rapid and enormous success of Diana, his first number one hit, made him a star at the young age of 15. Soon Paul found himself traveling by bus with the Cavalcade of Stars with the top names of the day. Anka was the youngest entertainer to ever perform at the Copacabana. He honed his craft surrounded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon, and Chuck Berry. After a few hit songs, Anka confident in his talent as a writer wisely knew that being a songwriter meant the power was in the pen. As a result, he went on to write for Buddy Holly and Connie Francis. Other hit songs include the Academy Award-nominated theme for the 1962 film in which he starred, The Longest Day. He notably penned the longest running theme in television history for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Songwriting and performing are what gave me the confidence to keep going, he says. Becoming a mascot and a junior associate of Sinatra and the Rat Pack also had its privileges. By the 70s, the success of My Way and a string of hits like (You re) Having My Baby confirmed his status as an icon of popular music. His later achievements as a recording artist included Hold Me Til the Morning Comes, a hit duet with Peter Cetera in 1983, the Spanish-language album Amigos in 1996, and Body of Work, a 1998 duets album that featured Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Tom Jones and daughter Anthea Anka. If this wasn t enough, it was revealed upon its release in 2009, that Anka co-wrote Michael Jackson s posthumous #1 worldwide hit, This Is It, which has further cemented his place upon the most prolific and versatile songwriters of any generation. Not one to rest on his laurels, Rock Swings and Classic Songs, My Way ingeniously featured songs originally created by some of the biggest rock performers of the day. Anka, of course, did the songs his way. Rock Swings went Top 10 in the UK, and was certified gold in the UK, France, and Canada, hit No. 2 on Billboard s Top Jazz Albums chart and went on to sell half a million units worldwide. On November 15, 2011, Anka released his first Christmas album in decades. Songs of December featured lush romantic versions of popular Christmas songs such as Let It Snow, Baby It s Cold Outside and I ll Be Home for 10
Christmas. All were recorded with a full orchestra in the renowned Capitol studios and sung by a music legend. It is a true holiday classic. In April 2013, Anka released his New York Times Bestselling autobiography, published by St. Martin s Press, entitled My Way. This autobiography is a remarkable story of a decades-long career as an entertainer, actor, and songwriter. During the same time, his new 14-song album entitled Duets was released by Sony Music Entertainment and featured artists such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Celine Dion, and Michael Bublé (who Anka was with from the start of his career as well as co-producer on his selftitled album in 2003). Duets provides a musical journey through the life and times of Paul Anka and includes heartfelt liner notes written by Anka himself as an introduction to the classic songs he and his collaborators have chosen. Duets set a milestone in Billboard Chart history because with the CD, Anka became the only artist to have a CD on the Billboard Top 100 Chart for seven consecutive decades. In 2014, Anka saw the release of a song he co-wrote with Michael Jackson entitled Love Never Felt So Good off of Jackson s album Xscape. As lead song off of Jackson s CD and it s first single, it has received massive radio, sales, and critical success and reached #1 in over 50 countries! 11