WEBVTT - One on One: Paul Anka 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:03.040 I Am all In. 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:20.640 I Am all In with Scott Patterson, an iHeartRadio podcast. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.840 Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all In Podcast one. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.680 I want to interview one of eleven Production's iHeart Radio, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:31.479 iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast. We have the extreme privilege of 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.640 talking to one of the biggest legends in the history 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:43.000 of the entertainment business, Paul. Mister Paul Anka, And let 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.800 me tell you something a little bit about this guy 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.720 and what he has accomplished so far in his life. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.560 He is a legendary singer and songwriter who's best known 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.560 for his signature hit songs Diana, Lonely Boy, put Your 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:02.040 Head on My Shoulder. As songwriter, Paul wrote the theme 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.160 song for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Tom Jones 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.759 has hit She's a Lady, Frank Sinatra's signature song My Way, 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.040 and If That isn't enough. With over nine hundred songs 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.920 to his credit, Paul's songs have also been recorded by 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.479 Ready for This, Elvis, Presley, Barbers, Streis and Linda Ronstant 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.679 The Sex Pistols, Nina Simone, Gypsy Kings, and Robbie Williams, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.400 to name a few. I am a big fan of 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.200 all of those people, especially Robbie Williams. Now, Paul has 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.720 ventured into podcasting with his best friend Skip Bronson in 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.400 their show Our Way with Paul Ankin Skip Bronson. The 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.399 series will give listeners a backstage pass to the lives 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:47.640 of icons across film, music, television, sports, and technology in 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.080 a whole new way. Listeners will hear from guests across industry, 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:56.480 including Jason Bateman, Mark Burnett, Michael Buble, Bill Burr, Billy Bush, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:01.680 Gail King, and even the President of France Emmanuel So, Paul, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:03.960 let's first start off. We're going to talk a little 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:05.720 bit about Gilmore Girls, and we're going to get into 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.320 your career as a songwriter, and then we're going to 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:10.800 talk about your podcast. Let's start off with the Gilmore stuff. 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.480 When did you first hear about Lorelized dog being named 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:15.120 after you? 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.200 Well, I think it was right from the inception, you know, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.320 heartbeat Later, I want to get out there, obviously, and 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:26.360 you know, I became a huge fan of the show. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.480 Obviously it was a great show, well written, et cetera, 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.560 et cetera. But from the exception, you know, probably what 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.840 after the first couple of weeks, everybody came around and 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.440 I heard about it, and I thought it was cool 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.240 because it's so international. I've been an international creature, but 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.560 I was ultimately hearing from everybody all over the world. 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.120 And so you were aware of the show before you 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:54.080 you found out about it. 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.520 Friends were watching it. I think my kids were watching it. Right, 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.720 the show, I mean, we're not talking about to something obscure. 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.560 This show was like everybody loved it. So I was 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.119 very much aware of the show. Yeah. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.360 Right, And then you made a cameo in the cold 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.440 open of season six, episode eighteen. Tell us how that 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:13.959 came about? That Black and White? 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.400 Well, I have to call and I said, yeah, let's 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.800 do it. I think we did a couple. When I 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.359 first got the call, I was very happy to do it, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.320 you know, I thought, yeah, natural for me. And they 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.000 were great to work with. They were just a fun 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.000 group of people and very bright, knew what they were doing, 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:33.480 and that was very comforting to me. 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.560 Right, do do fans approach you about your appearances on 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:39.680 Calor Girls? 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:46.440 I'm still do fans. I got friends, I got people 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.920 who did at parties. It always comes up, and you know, 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:51.720 I hate the phrase. It is what it is, but 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.400 it is what it is, and it was great to 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.840 be a part of it. You know. It was something 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:58.880 that I wore like a badge. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.040 I loved it. Right, Let's talk a little bit about 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.000 your music career, because this is this is a you know, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.400 reading your bio and reading about you and listening to 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.880 all the old songs, it just it's just absolutely fascinating. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:16.719 I'm a songwriter myself, so I'm really eager to hear 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.039 about your background. I mean, you you sold songs, you write, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.640 you were writing songs. You were musical prodigy growing up. Yeah, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.960 and you sold songs. You went to New York and 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.839 sold a song when you were what fifteen, sixteen years old. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.440 I was born in Ottawa, Canada, and my dad wanted 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.679 me to, you know, be a lawyer like my uncle, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:43.960 or a journalist because I had won awards for my 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.080 short stories in school, so I had kind of a 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.200 writing way about me. I was typing seventy words a minute, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:54.240 as in a class with forty girls, me and my friend, 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.560 and I always got drawn to music. You know, back 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.360 then it was pretty much the R and B rhythm 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.840 and blues and some country and that pops the vibe. 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.720 It just kind of integrated itself, but it was primarily 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.359 you know, it was the black movement in music, like 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:15.000 it's been for many decades. Kind of was inspiring. And 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.800 I fell out a shorthand class. I hated it, and 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.800 the teacher wasn't too thrilled with me. And you know, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.080 when you're a teenager, you think you know everything. But 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:27.839 I just said, okay, put me a music out. So 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.480 I started taking drums and start taking trumpet, and then 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:36.320 I wound up with Missus Reese, who was a piano teacher, 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.159 and she started in. I mean, my dad got me 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.760 a little old piano that they stuck in a basement. 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:45.919 You know, I was writing in this basement. It was 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.480 not a decked out basement. You know. We was at 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:53.440 modest background. So I started in Ottawa and I just 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.440 started messing around on the piano, you know, and it 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.200 wasn't until I got kind of inspired with this crush 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:02.120 that I had on this girl that was a three 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.360 years older than me, which you know, back then that 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.320 was a big deal along with everything else. I'll tall 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.599 you were at this, you were I'll want you. So 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.960 I just sat down and you know, I wrote, like 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.320 a kid, I'm so young you're so old. I don't 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.560 think I could get away with that today, but you know, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.080 I wrote it and it started with that, and ultimately, 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.719 like any process, I said, okay, now what's the next step? 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.880 And I started reading at all these record labels. I 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.880 had that if you'd got to Nashville, LA, or New York, 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.960 maybe Chicago, somebody would hear you. So, you know, with 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.920 a couple of you know, songs in my pocket some 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.560 money i'd saved up on an Eastern vacation. When I 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.560 got to New York, walked into an office some friends 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:51.000 of mine set up an appointment for me and Don Costa. 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.760 I mean, I attributed, you know, a lot of my 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.279 success to a team effort. You know, you never want 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.760 to be the smartest guy, and Don Costa was the guy. 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.839 He's the one that saw this kid banging away at 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.840 the piano. And from May when I recorded to August, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.800 when I wound up with American band standing at Sullivan, 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:12.080 that's when it all took off. 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:15.120 How old were you on ed Sullivan. 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:17.040 Fifteen or sixteen? 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:23.400 Unbelievable and you were singing, and you were writing the 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.400 songs you were singing and they were big number one hits. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.520 Or charting and way up in the charts and you 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.440 were a teen idol and super famous at fifteen six. 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:39.800 Well, ye, kind of freaky, you know. It wasn't really 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.040 the day and age of young idols or whatever the 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.440 hell I wanted to call it, right, That all kind 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:49.280 of morphed itself with the Philadelphia guys. But it's all timing, 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.520 you know. I just had the passion and the drive 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.880 and nothing else, and then you hone your talent, whatever 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.200 that is. But there was no tell vision in the 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.520 sense of the programs you see today, right, No, you know, 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:10.040 none of these talent contests. And it just happened so 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.800 quickly because the mere content of what we did and 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.080 the structure that was around us. You were a hit 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.000 in one week with radio, You did all of an 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.120 American bandstand. You went on radio, and within a week 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.440 the whole country knew who you were. So there I was. 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.000 I was in the middle of that with people that 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:33.319 were twice my age until the others started floating in. 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.480 And then I started working with Beverly Brothers, Frankie Lineman 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.520 and Frankie Avalon, all these young artists who had with 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.080 a young movement. We were traveling together on these buses, 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.400 each doing two songs through you know, all kinds of 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.000 weather breakdown with buses that weren't luxurious, and we're all 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.880 thrown together like little pioneers. And that's where all happened, 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.640 you know, And you looked up to the rack pack 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.120 of Las Vegas. That's all. The was the Beatles, which 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.080 is another story which I think I had a hand 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.680 in getting them, Warrior because I met them in Europe. 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.160 But that was the industry until the Beatles, until Hendrix 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.280 changed it in terms of picking up a guitar. And 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.920 I just continued honing my craft, knowing I was still 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.800 a kid, but writing about only what I knew popular 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.439 love was older money boy, all that kind of stuff, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.960 right and loving it, just saying, wow, I'm making two 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.120 hundred bucks a week. You know, I had a paper out, 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.520 I was a caddie. I worked at restaurant. I was 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.959 earning three bucks, spooky, And you know that's when I 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.120 learned to be focused, you know, because you learned at 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.040 some point in there that you may not last. You 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.320 know a lot of the guys I didn't. So until 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.640 you make each of those evolutions, you keep doing what 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:54.720 you're doing, getting better, but it's tonight sholl theme longest day. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.480 You know. My big reach out was for Buddy Hawley, 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:02.000 who was my friend when it doesn't matter anymore for him. 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:06.200 It was the last song unfortunately recorded, because he died 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:07.640 on that plane crash on the tour. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:14.760 Tell Us you mentioned two things, how it happened so 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.840 quickly for you at fifteen, and then your relationship with 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.040 the Beatles and bringing them over to the United States. 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.959 Tell Us you get to New York, you have a song, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:31.360 Who hears it? What happens after they hear it? How 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.840 did they hear it? Who signed you? How did you 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.560 get on Ed Sullivan? Did an agent come in? Did 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.480 a record company sign you right away? And then it 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:40.800 was just off to the moon for you. 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.800 Well, as I mentioned, you know, I had saved up 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.560 some money. It was Easter vacation. I went down in 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.240 New York. I'd been there prior because I want to 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.000 contest collecting souper wrappers for Campbell's soup. So I got 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:01.000 a feel for New York. Don Costa, as I mentioned, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.679 was with this new company, ABC Paramount. I had this appointment. 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:10.440 I went up jeans T shirt, you know, walked in 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:15.080 scared to death, sat down and played I think, Diana, 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.360 don't gamble with love and tell me that you love 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:20.760 me in. 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.600 His office, right right there, right there, in his office 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:24.240 in New York. 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:30.480 Okay, in New York, all twenty minutes and you said, okay, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:37.839 wor's your parents that they're not here? I said, no, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.559 I just flew down this little hotel. Blah blah blah. 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.920 Well I want to sign you, but you're too young. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:47.760 Parents here is signed it. I said, well, call them, 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.160 so we get on the phone. They call. My parents 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.400 were stunned, you know. They were saying, let them get 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.800 them out of his system. Go down, yeah, blah blah blah, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:01.600 right right right, and they fly in. Next day there 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.720 was Sam Clark, who was the president of the company. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.200 And which which company are we talking about? We're talking 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:09.800 about a record company. 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.479 ABC Paramount, which was a new division of the ABC 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:14.800 television network. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.560 It was starting outble. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.760 So now ABC starts a label, ABC Paramount. My parents 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.520 are in a room less again, six suits all around me, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.880 you know, and our people, the press bubble. They're all excited, 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.439 and I'm sitting there. My dad dot my mom's in shock. 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.520 And we signed a contract and they gave me hundred 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.000 dollars a month to write, and I was going to 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.360 remain there until we recorded. My parents go home. I 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.520 stay at the President Hotel. I think my uncles down there. 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:51.000 Somebody's watching over me. And I got up at two 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.320 o'clock in the afternoon late. I supposed to be there 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.199 at one Capital Studios up front, and I'm freaking out, 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.320 and I will run from forty some street about six 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:06.080 blocks to a Capital studio and I walk in. Now 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.680 you have to understand and try to explain it to 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.640 somebody of the newer artists, say initially Michael Buble. 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:14.679 I love Michael. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.200 Therefore, in the beginning, still I am that you're in 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:25.559 a room and you're with top session musicians who are 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.200 looking at these lead sheets and arrangements, and you're in 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.480 this room. You need to study the arrangement. You rehearse 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.120 for maybe let's say thirty minutes to get the vibe 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.400 and where you're going. And you walk into a small 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:45.360 studio a booth where they have a one cor inch tape, 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.320 two reels on a corrage tape, and now you're putting 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.680 a booth and this tape starts to roll. We're not 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.760 where we are today with technology and all the stuff 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.480 that we know is out there. You can cut a 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.560 hit in your bedroom with your macans whatever, and you 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:06.920 start singing, and you're singing with sheer energy, passion and 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.240 scared of death, trying to adapt to this concept of 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.800 you'll keep recording till you get what you want or 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.080 what they want. And I must have done twelve, thirteen, fourteen, 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.400 fifteen takes and that was it. Now if there was 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.120 something you want to fix, and I try to tell 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.120 a lot of people to that, you take a razor blade, 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.600 we would cut the tape, take a piece of scotch tape, 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.840 put the scotch tape on the cut and that was 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:37.000 your fix. Then you take it from there that you 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.480 were done. Once you captured it, they put it on 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.760 a piece of plastic vinyl disc. They walk it over 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.160 to Alan Freed, send it to a couple of Rarea stations, 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.840 and you knew in forty eight hours if you had 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.160 it it so here I am finally get Diana Don't 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:56.320 Gamble with Love out Dick Clark wanted Don't Gamble with Love. 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:01.160 Somebody turns it over to Diana and within a week 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.720 you're booked on American Bandstand and you're on ed Solomon 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.160 that fall, and there's your life. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.840 There's your new life. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:11.640 All these guys around you. You've got a new record 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:17.240 company with an ABC television company that was not making money. 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:21.760 They're just starting, but they were shipping a courier. Would 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.400 take whatever money they earned off of Diana, which back 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.880 then was a lot of money. They put it on 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.400 an airplane with a courier, go out and pay the 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.920 bills and lot spectus. My life changed right there. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.920 I was wow, Wow, Wow. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:43.040 The Slim Show. I'm in a studio where David Letterman 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:44.600 right broad with right. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.840 I used to study acting on the top floor there, 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:48.920 right above that studio. 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:55.280 There you go. They say, the day before, Paul, you're 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.680 going into Madison Square Gardens. We're not going to shoot 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:04.160 it at the theater, small theater environment. I go to 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.280 a rehearsal and I'm in this vast space Madison Square 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.720 Garden my first big network show. But I used to 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.960 watch as a kid every Sunday. That's all you did 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.520 was watch that until Mickey Mouse Club came along and 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:25.760 television was that solo. Sure, I'm on the floor and 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.240 I'm rehearsing and the band was like they could have 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.360 been a city, and I have to deal with all 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.320 these elements. What I tell you was I scared. We 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.040 go on the air and I'm singing Diana in Madison 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:42.320 Square Garden on my first of many at Sullivan shows. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.840 Tell us now about this Beatles connection. How did you 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.880 meet them? How did you convince them to come conquer America? 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.680 Which actually affected your career? Didn't it? 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.640 Well? After Diana? I have a string of hits, I've 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.840 got it kind of someone of the foundation of working 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.359 coming along as an entertainer, and I'm living in an 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:14.240 international life. I mean, Japan five HiT's a big parade, 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:19.520 and I'm sensing this international career. At seventeen eighteen nineteen, 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.440 I'm going to Europe. I'm constantly going to Europe, etcetera, etcetera. 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.600 So I'm in France, the country that I embraced at 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.200 a young age, loving it, And I go to see 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.400 a friend of mine who's working in the classic theater 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.520 of the Olympia Theater been there forever and still there. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.400 And I go to see my buddy who's headlining. And 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.160 as was it was back then, you'd have an opening 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.720 act or a few opening acts and that was pretty much, 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.600 you know, the presentation all over the world. So when 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.119 and I'm waiting for my friend to come on and 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:56.119 I hear that is a differments at No Sicknuvau group 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:01.639 Lore Engeler and set it does see who plays, and 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:08.719 you know, because because people they're watching an these guys 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.159 come out with the hair and with the thing and 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.320 suits and shirtain times. But they've got you know, there's 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.639 that new vibe and I'm looking as a musician, but wow, 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:23.879 and they're doing covers. They're a cover band. Okay, I'm saying, 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.480 look at those guys, man, that's kind of cool. So 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:32.080 from that I meet them. Then I go to England 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.040 and I'm you know, I took Thank god I took pictures. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:39.200 You know, nobody could believe it. And we'd become friendly 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.080 in the sense of that when I was in England, 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.879 i'd see them, we hang and you talk and they 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:45.639 would tell me, oh, we love this and you know 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.240 you Chuck Berry and we copied this. And I'm really 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.000 I'm looking at myself as you know, I'm not toning 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.960 a guitar. I'm not doing what they were in terms 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.600 of emulating Americans and and and there was none of those, 0:18:57.960 --> 0:18:59.680 None of the English bands or artists were on the 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:04.240 hit for It was all American American artists. So we 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.720 get to know each other and they say, we want 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:08.480 to do what you're doing, you know, we want to 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.879 publish and you want to write. And it was a 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.359 great man because I really like you guys, and you 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.520 had that energy that you anyway, I come back home 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.639 from these trips and I talked to my agents in 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.119 New York, Norman Weiss and Sid Bernston at general artists. 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.119 I have to remember, we're in a time, in a 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.280 space then where it wasn't a media driven society. It 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.640 was radio anything you want to hear from Europe? Yeah, 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.560 Blenn in a month later, you know, you knew nothing. 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.440 It was all tell EXAs and you were short on 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.480 what was happening at the time. And I come home 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:48.320 and bring records home and until Weise and Bernstein, these guys, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.679 the Beatles, a bit of them, we talk about Beatles 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:59.439 still was emerging, that whole English family. Finally, whatever button 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.560 I pushed your them. They flew to England and met 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.040 with this guy, Brian Epstein, who was their manager, and 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.200 one thing led to another. They bring them over and 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.240 like me, only like me in terms of the only 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.920 thing you could do. I'm on Sullivan earlier in my life. 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.200 Their for a show at Sullivan, Well the rest is hitty, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.480 won't deliver it. They take off. But it took me 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.880 a while to convince these guys that this guy, these 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.679 people are real. So then the floodgates, and I was 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.840 happy with it because prior to that, you know, we 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.399 were embraced, we those of us doing the pop music, 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.280 et cetera, by our friends, and nobody else liked this. 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.840 Parents didn't like us, Madison Avenue didn't like us, but 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.400 we had our little following. When the Beatles hit Madison 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.560 Avenue opened up, everything changed in everybody's mind in terms 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.879 of pop music. So I call it pop music, and 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.440 I think that for that. Well, of course, the fritsh 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.560 Invasion hits, and some of us are off the radio. 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.480 I'm off of my label. I buy back all my 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.760 stuff for two hundred and fifty dollars. I go to 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.000 a Victor and I get into a new group with 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.399 this company. Because I would travel all over the world 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.880 and my record company had trouble with distributing. But when 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.800 i'd walk down the street in Italy or wherever i'd 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.399 see RCA Victor washing machine. It's dost wherever I live 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:25.480 make and so that's all I want to be with. 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.320 So minute with RCA. And that was the next days 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:28.840 of my life. 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:41.520 Wow, let's skip ahead now and get into your relationship 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.160 with the rat Pack and meeting Frank Sinatra and being 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:45.760 friends and writing my way. 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:53.280 And so there we are, Bobby, Darren, Frank, all of us. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.480 We're growing, we're getting ogre. I'm mastering the songwriting thing 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.720 as best I can. But we're not oblivious to the 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:05.280 fact that we may not be around because we had 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.200 heard and we were pretty much taught that this can't 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:08.840 last forever. 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:10.640 What year is this now? 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:15.240 Late fifties, gotcha, because we all heard of this place 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:22.240 called Las Vegas. Elvis went in, didn't like it. I said, okay, 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.280 I want to I want to be like those guys. 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:29.800 I want to learn to be an entertainer. And fifty 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.400 eight fifty nine they said, look, you can't headline there, 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.080 but we want you to work with Sophie Tucker. I'd 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:39.560 seen her, but I Sophie Tucker, but you know, I 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.000 admired the fact that she was in veteran and had 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:46.479 some good reputation. Long the short, I'm performing with Sophie 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:50.800 Tucker in the late fifties Las Vegas. What they'd never 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:56.240 seen was there. I am this kid with Sophie Tucker 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:00.000 and every kid that was in school in Las Vegas. 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:03.440 I guess in this you know city that wasn't the city. 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:06.840 Then shows up and they're going nuts in this twelve 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:10.920 hundred seat clubroom and purso vi, Tucker's getting pissed. Put 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:16.280 in a very gracious manner, where she my boy, I 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:18.520 want you to close the show. So they made me 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:21.399 close the show. She'd go on first to keep the 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.159 kids in the room, get me quiet. And that was 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.640 my first taste of Vegas. Now I had been there. 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:32.640 I was like Darren and Avalon. We loved these guys, 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:36.240 Frank Sinatra, we'd loved swing. We couldn't do it. So 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.040 what we did is we'd put acts together with big 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:41.880 band and say that's our goal. We got to work 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:46.800 the clubs. So I started late sixties at the Copacabana 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:50.000 in New York City. That was your kind of your 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.639