Paul Anka: Doing It His Way: Once Dubbed "The Kid" by His Mentor, Frank Sinatra, This Junior Member of the Famed Rat Pack Is at the Top of His Game with a New CD, an Autobiography, and a Broadway Show in the Works for 2009

Miller, Holly G., The Saturday Evening Post

Singer-songwriter Paul Anka remembers the first check he received after his recording of "Diana" soared to the top of the pop charts. The amount was $300, modest even by 1957 standards, but "it seemed like a lot of money to a kid coming off a paper route in Canada," says Anka, who was 16 at the time. Unlike many one-hit wonders whose success was short-lived in the early days of rock and roll, Anka had the savvy and talent to stay ahead of the trends. The music he wrote soon evolved from sock-hop ballads like "Puppy Love" to big-band standards like "My Way," created for his mentor and close pal Frank Sinatra.

"Frank and Sammy [Davis, Jr.] looked after me, watched over me, and allowed me into their circle," he says of the legendary entertainers. The "circle" was Sinatra's famed Rat Pack, and members included Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. Sinatra gave them all nicknames, which were embroidered on the robes they wore when they lounged around the saunas and pools at the Las Vegas hotels where they performed. Anka, decades younger than the rest of the Pack, emerged as The Kid. The name stuck, although "as I got older and …

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Publication information: Article title: Paul Anka: Doing It His Way: Once Dubbed "The Kid" by His Mentor, Frank Sinatra, This Junior Member of the Famed Rat Pack Is at the Top of His Game with a New CD, an Autobiography, and a Broadway Show in the Works for 2009. Contributors: Miller, Holly G. - Author. Magazine title: The Saturday Evening Post. Volume: 281. Issue: 1 Publication date: January-February 2009. Page number: 42+. © Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society Jan/Feb 2007. COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale Group.

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