Paul Anka to Perform at Detroit's Fox Theatre This December

Detroit - Prolific Singer and songwriter Paul Anka announced a performance a the Fox Theatre on Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets ($29.50, $49.50, $59.50 and $79.50) go on sale Friday, August 26 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at OlympiaEntertainment.com, The Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena box offices, Hockeytown Authentics in Troy (without service charge) at all Ticketmaster locations and Ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets by phone, call (800) 745-3000. Discounts are available on select seats for groups of 10 or more by calling 313-471-3099. For additional information, call (313) 471-6611.

Born July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Canada, into a close-knit family, Paul Anka didn't waste time getting his life in music started. 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. By 13, he had his own vocal group, the Bobbysoxers. Blinded by determination, he would steal his mother's car and drive to perform at every amateur night he could. 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. It was there that his dream to make it as a singer composer was solidified. There was not a doubt in his young tenacious mind.

In 1956, Paul Anka convinced his parents to let him travel to Los Angeles, where he called every record company in the phone book looking for an audition. A meeting with Modern Records led to the release of Anka's first single, "Blau-Wile Deverest Fontaine." It was not a hit, but Anka kept plugging away, going so far to sneak into Fats Domino's dressing room to meet the man and his manager in Ottawa. When Anka returned to New York in 1957, he scored a meeting with Don Costa, the A&R man for ABC-Paramount Records. He played him a batch of songs that included "Diana" - Costa was duly enthusiastic about the potential of the young singer and songwriter. The rapid and enormous success of "Diana"- his first number one hit - made him a star.

Soon Paul found himself traveling by bus with the 'Cavalcade of Stars' with the top names of the day in the era of segregation, performing at the Copa Cabana, the youngest entertainer ever to do so, and honing his craft surrounded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lyman, and Chuck Berry.

After a few hit songs, Anka confident in his talent as a writer wisely knew that being a songwriter meant the power was in the pen. As a result, he went on to write for Buddy Holly and Connie Francis. Other hit songs include the Academy Award-nominated theme for the 1962 film in which he starred, The Longest Day. He notably penned the longest running theme in television history for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Songwriting and performing "are what gave me the confidence to keep going," he says. Becoming a mascot and a junior associate of Sinatra and the Rat Pack also had its privileges. By the '70s, the success of "My Way" and a string of hits like "(You're) Having My Baby" confirmed his status as an icon of popular music.

His later achievements as a recording artist included "Hold Me 'Til the Morning Comes," a hit duet with Peter Cetera in 1983, the Spanish-language album Amigos in 1996, and Body of Work, a 1998 duets album that featured Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Tom Jones and daughter Anthea Anka. If this wasn't enough, it was revealed upon its release in 2009, that Anka co-wrote Michael Jackson's posthumous #1 worldwide hit, "This Is It," which has further cemented his place upon the most prolific and versatile songwriters of any generation.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Anka's last two albums - Rock Swings and Classic Songs, My Way - ingeniously featured songs originally created by some of the biggest rock performers of the day. Anka, of course, did the songs 'his way.' Rock Swings went Top 10 in the UK, and was certified gold in the UK, France, and Canada, hit No. 2 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart and went on to sell half a million units worldwide.

On November 15, 2011, Anka released his first Christmas album in decades. Songs of December featured lush romantic versions of popular Christmas songs such as "Let It Snow", "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas". All were recorded with a full orchestra in the renowned Capitol studios and sung by a music legend. It is a true holiday classic.

In April 2013, Anka released his New York Times Bestselling autobiography, published by St. Martin's Press, entitled My Way. This autobiography is a remarkable story of a decades-long career as an entertainer, actor, and songwriter. During the same time, his new 14-song album entitled Duets was released by Sony Music Entertainment and featured artists such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Celine Dion, and Michael Bublé (who Anka was with from the start of his career as well as co-producer on his self-titled album in 2003). Duets provides a musical journey through the life and times of Paul Anka and will include heartfelt liner notes written by Anka himself as an introduction to the classic songs he and his collaborators have chosen. Duets set a milestone in Billboard Chart history because with the CD, Anka became the only artist to have a CD on the Billboard Top 100 Chart for seven consecutive decades.

In 2014, Anka saw the release of a song he co-wrote with Michael Jackson entitled "Love Never Felt So Good" off of Jackson's album Xscape. As lead song off of Jackson's CD and it's first single, it has received massive radio, sales, and critical success and has already reached #1 in over 50 countries!