Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Camelia (nee Tannis) and Andrew Emile "Andy" Anka Sr., who owned a restaurant called the Locanda. His parents were both Antiochian Orthodox Christians. Anka's father (Andy) was Syrian-American from 'Uyun al-Wadi, Syria from the Na'Nou' family and his mother (Camelia) was Canadian-Lebanese "from the town of Kfarmishki, Rashaya District, in Lebanon." Anka sang with the St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church choir under the direction of Frederick Karam, with whom he studied music theory.

Paul Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess", when he was 14. In 1957, with $100 given to him by his uncle, he went to New York City where he auditioned for Don Costa at ABC, singing what was widely believed to be a lovestruck verse he had written to a former babysitter. In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross in 2005, he stated that it was to a girl at his church whom he hardly knew. The song "Diana" brought Anka stardom as it rocketed to No. 1 on the Canadian and US music charts. "Diana" is one of the best selling singles ever by a Canadian recording artist. He followed up with four songs that made it into the Top 20 in 1958, including "It's Time to Cry", which hit No. 4 and "(All Of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", which reached No. 15, making him (at 17) one of the biggest teen idols of the time. He toured Britain, then Australia with Buddy Holly. Anka also wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" - a song written for Holly, which Holly recorded just before he died in 1959. Anka stated shortly afterward:  "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly's family. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow - it's the least I can do.  Paul Anka's talent included the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (reworked in 1962 from a song Anka wrote earlier called "Toot Sweet"; it had been rewritten with lyrics and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959 as "It's Really Love"). Anka composed Tom Jones's biggest hit record, "She's a Lady", and wrote the English lyrics to "My Way", Frank Sinatra's signature song (originally the French song "Comme d'habitude"). In the 1960s, 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 US 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. 8 pop hit for him the same year. He then went on to become one of the first pop singers to perform at the Las Vegas casinos. In 1960, he appeared twice as himself in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven.  In 1960, Anka signed with RCA Victor. He bought the rights and ownership of his ABC-Paramount catalog in 1963, but like most North American recording artists saw his career stalled by the British Invasion. By the late 1960s, his career focused on adult contemporary and big-band standards, played regularly in Las Vegas.  In the early 1970s, he signed with Buddah Records, putting out two albums, a self-titled and Jubilation. The former, first released in 1971, bore the track "She's A Lady", a song he wrote that would become a signature hit for Welsh singer Tom Jones that same year. However, Anka failed to make a chart success of his own version.

how did his success begin?
Paul Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess", when he was 14. In 1957, with $100 given to him by his uncle,