In The 1970s Paul Anka

Paul Albert Anka was born in 1941, and was on the same level as the brat pack. He was a huge teen idol in his time, and of course helped write My Way. Paul was a huge star in the 1960s, but he still had a very big influence in the 1970s too.

For instance, he wrote the 1970 hit for Tom Jones called She’s A Lady, he also wrote  a TV theme that would be heard night after night in the U.S, as he wrote the theme to the chat show the Johnny Carson Show. Donny Osmond had a 1972 hit called Why, the flip side which got a lot of radio play was Lonely Boy another Paul Anka written hit. He also wrote the huge Donny Osmond single Puppy Love, but Paul had written the song and had a hit with it in 1960. But his writing was being heard by the 1970s audiences.

In 1974 Paul had his first 1970s chart hit with You’re Having My Baby, which now is remembered as a chauvinist record, but at the time it seemed to be a happy record about a man delighted his wife was having his (their) baby.

 

The U.S. was the prime place for hits in the 1970s for Paul, as he had only had one in the UK, but the U.S. notched up five top ten singles including the No.1 Times Of Your Life which was a spin-off of a Kodak advertising jingle written by Paul. It was so successful it was made into a single.

Paul’s last top ten hit in the U.S. came in 1978 with This Is Love.

The My Way song by Sinatra charted in the 1970s, and was a French single that Paul reworked for English lyrics. And when Sinatra sings that song you can feel the hairs on the back of your neck go all the way up. Yes, Paul Anka did make a very big impression on music of the 1970s.

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