Class singer who burst on the scene as a teenager with Diana and made a whole batch of excellent records - this being one of them.

Born 30 July 1941, in Ottawa, Ontario) he is actually of Lebanese origin but became a naturalized US citizen in 1990.

Anka's parents, who owned a restaurant, were of Lebanese Christian (Maronite) descent. He sang with the St Elijah Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Church choir under the direction of Frederick Karam with whom he studied music theory. He also studied piano with Winnifred Rees.

Anka recorded his first single "I Confess" at the age of 14 and in 1957 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 instant stardom as it rocketed to number one on the charts. "Diana" is one of the best selling 45s in music history but this one was one of four monster hits he had while still a teenager.