8/9/2021
Performances and Artists
Music Legend Paul Anka to Perform New Tunes and Greatest Hits at The Smith Center
Pop legend Paul Anka hasn’t stopped recording and performing since his teens in the ‘60s, when he became Las Vegas’ youngest headliner.
So, it’s no surprise the pandemic didn’t slow him down.
“My No. 1 job during that time was my health,” Anka says.
But even on full lockdown, his creativity thrived.
Anka, now 80, took this time to complete an all-new album. He also began work on a documentary by gathering content and compiling a team.
“We have made a deal with Sidney Kimmel Global Entertainment with some personal friends who will executive produce,” Anka says.
The story of Anka’s life promises a thrilling watch. His 65-year career includes highlights like selling 10 million albums globally, gallivanting with the Rat Pack, owning a Las Vegas nightclub and penning iconic songs for Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones and Buddy Holly.
“(Frank Sinatra) has influenced me more than anyone else throughout my career,” Anka says.
Anka will also perform all-new songs from his latest album, plus greatest hits from across his career, such as “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and “Puppy Love.”
“The audience can look forward to what I sense they want to hear,” Anka says.
A Career Shaped By Vegas and Sinatra
Anka’s Las Vegas roots run deep.
The Canada native headlined at the Sands at just 16 years old, after landing a contract with Paramount Records at 15.
"My life as a teenager ended at 16," Anka says. "I went into another sphere."
Even with most other Vegas headliners twice his age, Anka found acceptance and support with the Rat Pack. He honed his work ethic following Sinatra’s perfectionism and commitment to rehearsal.
“Even though there was frolicking, there was professionalism there,” Anka says. “We were in a day and age where performers weren’t using technology to better their voices. It was very raw. You had to be in shape.”
After years of friendship, Sinatra eventually tasked Anka with writing a song for Sinatra’s final album before he retired, which led Anka to penning “My Way.”
When Anka played the song for Sinatra at the legend’s Las Vegas home, Sinatra decided on the spot to record it.
Two months later, Sinatra called Anka out of the blue.
“He says, ‘kid, listen to this,’ and puts the phone up to the speaker,” Anka remembers. “I heard ‘My Way’ playing for the first time, and I started to cry.”
Watching Las Vegas Evolve
As Anka continued performing in Las Vegas throughout his decades of hits, he witnessed the city’s significant transformations.
Back in the ‘60s, he recalls, no one knew the names of Vegas hotel owners.
“The headliners were really the stars of the place, and the hotels came second,” he remembers.
With nightclubs and lounges where patrons sported their finest furs and jewelry, Las Vegas also marked an exclusive destination, he adds.
“Was there an open-arms, come-hither attitude to families and kids? No,” he says.
Things changed, he adds, when “Steve (Wynn) got smart and everybody followed, and started to realize the demographic would change and that it was a business.”
He joined the business himself, opening his Vegas nightclub Jubilation in the ‘70s, a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and club that claimed at the time to be the largest disco in the world.
Today, the whole nature of Las Vegas has changed, he says.
“Now the hotels have become these villages unto themselves,” Anka says. “The entertainment is the cherry on top, but the star is the hotel itself.”
His favorite additions to Las Vegas include The Smith Center – and he looks forward to returning.
“I am ecstatic to convey to everyone that we've never, in all my years in Vegas, had a facility of that kind of quality that embraces the needs of those living in Vegas,” he says. “To come home to that, where I can honestly say is my other home, and to be greeted the way I am is a great event and brings great emotion. From a technical aspect to the physical experience, it is unlike anywhere in the world for me.”