He went so far as to sneak into Fats Domino’s dressing room in Ottawa to meet him and his manager. Although it was not a hit, Anka kept plugging away. In 1956, he convinced his parents to let him travel to Los Angeles to visit his uncle, where he hitchhiked to a meeting with Modern Records that led to the release of Anka’s first single, “Blau-Wile Deveest Fontaine.” The inspiration for the song came from a book he was reading for a report he had to write for Fisher Park school by the former Governor General of Canada, John Buchan. There was not a doubt in his young tenacious mind. After visiting the music hub of New York, was there that his dream to make it as a singer composer was solidified. Soon after, he won a trip to New York by winning a Campbell’s soup contest that required him to spend three months collecting soup can labels. Blinded by determination, he would take his mother’s car and drive to perform at every amateur night he could across the river in Quebec. By 13, he had his own vocal group, the Bobbysoxers. From an early age he sang in a choir, studied piano and honed his writing skills with journalism courses, even working as a cub reporter at the Ottawa Citizen.
Born July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Canada, into a close-knit family, Paul Anka didn’t waste time getting his life in music started.
