Artist:Paul Anka
Song:Diana
Album:Singing & Swinging
The 1957 single Diana was the first number one hit for Canadian singer songwriter Paul Anka. Of course he has had a long career. But Diana was the first single from his first album. He was born July 30, 1941 in Ottawa, ON. His parents owned a restaurant. His father was from Syria and his mother was from Lebanon. Anka sang in the church choir. In high school, he led a vocal trio called The Bobby Soxers. Anka's uncle gave him $100 to record his first single I Confess in 1956. Then he went to New York City to audition for producer Don Costa of ABC-Paramount Records. The song he sang at the audition was Diana which Anka wrote for a girl he knew from church. Costa took him into the studio and cut the record. The most notable musician who played on the record was jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. Diana topped the Billboard Hot 100 and sold nine million copies. The album Paul Anka was released in 1958. Of course the big difference between Anka and many of the teen idols of the era is he wrote a lot of his own songs. But the problem at ABC-Paramount is Anka's career stalled. So he signed with RCA in 1960 and bought all his ABC-Paramount recordings. He re-recorded his Paramount-ABC hita on RCA in 1963. Can you get the original version of Diana? Sure. Anka owns them and has released them on his own label. He has also licensed them to reissue labels like Jasmine who released this 2CD comp of Anka's Paramount recordings. The 60s were a dry period for Anka. But he scored a big comeback with the 1974 #1 single You're Having My Baby. Plus he's written plenty of hit songs including My Way for Frank Sinatra. He still records for his own label. He released an album this year. And he he has been on tour all year. Here's Paul Anka performing Diana on a 1960 episode of Ameriican Bandstand.
No comments:
Post a Comment