My Way: An Autobiography
It’s hard to imagine now, but once upon a time a 15-year-old boy from Canada could walk into an L.A. record company, sing a song he wrote, and get signed to a recording contract. Paul Anka’s first hit, “Diana,” came in 1957, when he was 16. He was just a kid, but so were many of his contemporaries: Frankie Lymon, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers. Anka had five hits in a single year, 1958, and he was among the top acts of the late 1950s and early ’60s, but then something happened that could have ended his career: the Beatles. Anka wisely changed course, focusing on songwriting, but for an older audience, turning out the theme for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, Sinatra’s monster hit “My Way,” and Tom Jones’ “She’s a Lady,” while still performing in Vegas and occasionally coming up with a hit of his own (“(You’re) Having My Baby”). A lively, entertaining autobiography by one of the true legends of the music business. --David Pitt