You’re Having My Baby!

1961 | Paul Anka (Photo credit: e r j k p r u n c z y k)

I’m not sure how many of you would know who Paul Anka is.  He’s my second post for today.

Ottawa (Ontario) native, Anka’s pop hit “(You’re) Having my Baby” was a #1 hit on Billboard on August 20, 1974.  His earlier #1 hit had been in 1959 with “Lonely Boy” — most probably the longest recorded gap between top singles.

Paul Albert Anka is 72 years old now, born on July 30, 1941.  Anka is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actor. He really only became famous in the late 1950s and 1960s with songs like “Diana“, “Lonely Boy“, and “Put Your Head on My Shoulder“. He went on to write many well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, one of Tom Jones‘ biggest hits, “She’s a Lady“, as well as the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra’s signature song, “My Way” which was originally the French song “Comme d’habitude“.

Paul Anka at the 2007 North Sea Jazz Festival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 1983, he (even) co-wrote, with Michael Jackson, the song “I Never Heard“; it was released in 2009 under the name “This Is It“.

He toured Australia with Buddy Holly. Anka also wrote “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” – a song he wrote for Buddy Holly which he recorded just before he died in 1959. Anka stated shortly afterward:“ “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly’s family. I’m giving my composer’s royalty to his widow – it’s the least I can do. ”

A street in Ottawa was named the Paul Anka Drive in 1974. In 1981, the Ottawa City Council named August 26 as “Paul Anka Day,” to celebrate his quarter century in show business.

To learn more about Paul Anka, I suggest his Official Website, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Oh, and if you don’t know who Paul Anka is, I suggest looking for sound-bytes of his songs – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Related articles

• Latest Jackson Single “This Is It” Written By Michael Jackson and Paul Anka (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• Buddy Holly on Grooveshark (grooveshark.com)