When he’s not busy inducting fellow famous Canadians into Canada’s Walk of Fame or developing future rock stars, Centretown-born music legend Paul Anka has been hard at work writing his long-awaited biography.
The 69-year-old crooner has spent more than 50 years in the entertainment industry performing at exotic locations around the world and penning songs for himself and for the likes of Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Buddy Holly. It doesn’t seem likely that the singer or his writing partner, former Rolling Stone editor David Dalton, will have trouble filling the pages.
Although the release date for the book has not yet been set, it can be expected that Anka will begin his story of fame and fortune with his humble beginnings in downtown Ottawa.
The Singer was born on July 30, 1941, Andy and Camelia Anka in an apartment on Slater Street. Although the family would later move homes, the star still spent much of his time in Centretown.
According to Anka’s cousin Donald Abraham, he and Anka could be found on Saturday nights at his father’s restaurant, the Locanda, on the corner of Laurier Avenue and Bank Street. As teenagers, Abraham said the restaurant’s chef used to chase the pair out of the kitchen after they stole chicken legs.
It was also at this restaurant that radio host Gord Atkinson would first meet a 13-year-old Anka. Being new to the city, Atkinson said that he spent a lot of time at the restaurant and ended up befriending Anka’s parents.
“I remember his father coming up to me saying that Paul wanted to get into the music business and asking if there was anything that I could do,” says Atkinson.
So when Atkinson started the teenage variety program, The Campus Club, on Ottawa’s CFRA radio station, Anka and his high school band the Bobbysoxers were put on the air. They would go on to perform for the radio program’s monthly live show, says Atkinson.
In 1957, the radio station also aired another Anka accomplishment.
“After he returned from recording (the hit song) Diana in New York City, Paul brought what was possibly the first recording to CFRA,” says Atkinson. “When I played the song, it was probably the first time it ever aired.”
Diana, a song about a school-boy crush on an older girl, would become Anka’s first No. 1 hit song. According to Abraham, Anka wrote Diana and Lonely Boy, another hit song, in the basement of the Anka family home.
“Whenever I would come over to play ball hockey, (Anka) would say ‘listen to this song,’ ” says Abraham, “and I would go, ‘Look, I didn’t come over to listen to this music. Are we going to play ball hockey or not? What’s the point of moaning and groaning over a girl that you’re never going to get?’ ”
According to the Ottawa Citizen, the real Diana, Anka’s childhood friend Diana Ayoub, was harassed by the press after the song rocketed up the charts. Ayoub, who is a resident of Centretown, declined an interview request.
“People were showing up at my house all the time,” Ayoub told the Ottawa Citizen. “One time my father found a stepladder rising to my bedroom.’’
Although Anka has since moved from Ottawa and has travelled around the world countless times, the singer has occasionally returned to the city in support of charities such as the Canadian Liver Foundation.
“I think Paul Anka belongs to the world; he doesn’t belong to Ottawa anymore,” says Abraham. “But, it would be nice to have him back.”