- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ |
Paul Anka: Pop's oldest teenager keeps doing it his way
Paul Anka -- the silky-voice crooner who wrote such evergreen classics as "She's a Lady" and the lyrics to "My Way" -- has been around the block since he scored his first global number one in 1957.
But it has taken the Canadian 80 years to headline one of the world's top jazz festivals alongside legends like George Benson, Gilberto Gil and Van Morrison.
"It's gonna be a thrill for me" to play the Juan Jazz Festival on the French Riviera -- which starts Wednesday -- Anka told AFP from his home in Los Angeles.
Indeed, the line-up is a gathering of pure jazz royalty, from Herbie Hancock to Diana Krall, Stacey Kent and the genius Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan.
But Anka's roots are pure pop, going straight to the top of the hit parade -- as it was then called -- with his debut smash, "Diana", when he was only 16.
The song ushered in the era of teeny bopper stars, with Anka the first teenager ever to score a number one hit in Britain.
- 'My Way' -
The song told of Anka's unrequited love for an older woman who was "out of my league" -- Diana Ayoub was 19 at the time -- and he used to pine for her after spotting her at his Orthodox church in Ottawa.
The son of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, Anka grew up speaking French, which is how he came to write the English version of one of the 20th century's most sung songs, "My Way".
His take on the standard, which was originally recorded by the French singer Claude Francois as "Comme d'habitude", became Frank Sinatra's signature standard, as well as a hit for Elvis and the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious.
"I have a great history with France, with French people and the music," said Anka.
"I have to do some of the original hits that first took me to France when I was a young boy -- 'Diana', 'You Are My Destiny' and 'My Way' of course," he added.
- Sorry Trump -
Anka was slated to sing "My Way" at Donald Trump's inauguration as US president in 2017 before pulling out, although he avoided saying whether he supported him.
"You've got a better chance of getting a sunrise past a rooster on that one," he said.
While his full-on romantic standards such as "(You're) Having My Baby" may be slightly cheesy to some, his songs and celebrity have endured.
"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" inspired a viral TikTok challenge last year, and "She's a Lady" -- which he also wrote -- is one of Welsh singer Tom Jones's biggest crowd-pleasers.
Anka also popped up on stage next to Lisa in a 1995 episode of "The Simpsons" called "Treehouse of Horror VI" in which he co-starred.
The singer was and is still friends with some of France's musical greats, and hinted that he would pay homage to some of them during his show in Juan-les-Pins.
"You'll see when I do my show... I was connected to all the French singers from (Charles) Aznavour, to Johnny Hallyday ("the French Elvis"), Gilbert Becaud and Mireille Mathieu, whom I wrote an album for.
"One of my favourites was Michel Colombier," a prolific Hollywood film composer who "wrote a couple of albums with me".
Anka said he wanted to "get the sense of the audience" before deciding what to play, although there would be a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. "I can't be selfish and do what I want for myself.
"I want to be eclectic... I don't know if I will have time to sing anything from the new album, and I don't know if anyone will be interested," quipped the singer, who has just recorded a new television special.
D.Schneider--BTB