Seventies – Page 4 – Yesteryear Revisited

Paul Anka was born on the 5th of July, in 1941. The singer and songwriter grew up in the Canadian capital, Ottawa. His first hit, “Diana”, was written about his baby sitter, Diana Ayoub. Paul won a trip to New York City, in 1957, where he was signed to ABC Records.

Possessing a long list of self-penned entries to the charts, that was to extend into the 1980s, Paul Anka also found the time to write songs for other artists: “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” for Buddy Holly, and “She’s A Lady” for Tom Jones being two such examples. Paul’s hit from 1960, “Puppy Love”, again, became a prominent entry on the charts, in 1972, when it was revived by Donny Osmond.

In 1969, he wrote English lyrics to the French song, “My Way”, which then became a global hit for Frank Sinatra. Following what, for him, had been a bit of a lull in his recording career, Paul combined, in duet, with Odia Coates, to reach the top of the charts, once again, with “(You’re) Having My Baby”, in 1974. The pairing quickly followed this with “One Man Woman/One Woman Man”, which nearly did just as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bwW07sCwoY

Later in his life, Paul Anka became the mentor to another Canadian singer, Michael Buble.

For more tracks from Paul Anka refer to the suggested playlists.

Badfinger firstly recorded, without notable success, under its original name, The Iveys, in the late 1960s. The Beatles signed Badfinger to its record label, Apple, and was responsible for producing some of the group’s early records. However, it was the band’s leader, Pete Ham, who wrote “No Matter What”, one of the quartet’s initial hits. Its first, “Come And Get It”, had been written by Paul McCartney. Ham also wrote the third single to enter the charts, “Day After Day”, as well as the fourth, and last prominent entry, “Baby Blue”; written for a girl he had met when the band toured the United States, in 1971.

It was Badfinger, via Pete Ham and fellow member, Tom Evans, who composed the classic, “Without You”. American singer/songwriter, Harry Nilsson, just so happened to be visiting Britain and heard the band performing it on one of its albums. Whilst the song has been, in turn, covered since, most notably, in 1993, by Mariah Carey, Nilsson’s cover remains the definitive version.

The original members of Badfinger were: Pete Ham on guitar, keyboards and vocals; Joey Molland: guitar, keyboards and vocals; Tom Evans: bass, guitar and vocals, and Mike Gibbins: drums. Peter Ham committed suicide, in 1975, at the age of twenty-seven.