Anka sang with the St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral choir under the direction of Frederick Karam, with whom he studied music theory. Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess", when he was In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross in , he stated that it was to a girl at his church whom he hardly knew. He toured Britain, then Australia with Buddy Holly.
Anka also wrote " It Doesn't Matter Anymore " β a song written for Holly, which Holly recorded just before he died in Anka stated shortly afterward:. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow β it's the least I can do. In the s, Anka began acting in motion pictures as well as writing songs for them, most notably the theme for the hit film The Longest Day which also was the official march of the Canadian Airborne Regiment , in which he made a cameo appearance as a U.
Army Ranger. For his film work he wrote and recorded one of his greatest hits " Lonely Boy ". He also wrote and recorded " My Home Town ", which was a No. He then went on to become one of the first pop singers to perform at the Las Vegas casinos. Frustrated after more than ten years without a top 25 hit record, Anka switched labels again, which marked a turning point in his career.
Anka also wrote five songs which were included on an album by Don Goodwin. It became so popular Anka recorded it as a full song, which peaked at No. In , Anka released an album of big-band arrangements of contemporary Rock songs titled, Rock Swings ; the album provided a mainstream comeback of sorts that saw Anka awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.
On October 12, , Anka stated that Michael Jackson 's new release titled " This Is It " was a collaborative effort between the two in According to Anka, after recording the song, Jackson decided not to use it and the tune was then recorded and released by Sa-Fire. His album Songs of December charted at No. His official discography reports nine singles released by RCA Italiana , [ 22 ] but the Italian charts list at least six other songs he interpreted or recorded in Italian.
