tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with paul anka. he has collaborated with everyone from frank sinatra to michael jackson. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can

stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: paul anka had his first hit when he was just 15. hit after hit followed as he reinvented himself to remain relevant. he has now written a memoir. he also has a new cd coming out in which he shares the microphone with the likes of willie nelson, frank sinatra and michael jackson.

the clip you are about to see is from a few years ago. >> ? if not himself then he has not to say the thing he truly feels ? but i did it my way ? ? [applause] tavis: it is hard to think of a song with a lyric better than that. i was listening to aretha franklin and her cover of this.

she sold it up. her version is amazing. you suggested that i listen to another one. >> we are old friends. listen to the brook benton record. nina simone and gypsy king's. tavis: give me a sense of how that lyric came to be. >> the back story to that is when i started in vegas as a kid and i got to know some not sure at a very young age. he always said, when are you going to write me a song? he hated pop music.

what i was doing, because i worked there and the mob controlled everything, they were decent with me. the years go by and i was down in miami, he was doing a movie and he called me up and said, kid, we are going to dinner. you go to dinner. we go to dinner and he is with my producer and he was doing his last album. i am done, i am through, the rat pack is over. i am doing one more album and i am retiring. i go back to new york where i was living and everything had manifested itself. one more album, i could not

believe it. i started typing. the end is near, so i face the final curtain. i called him in vegas and i said, i have something very interesting. i flew out a week later and i played it to him. he said kid, i love it. listen to this, he put the phone up to the speaker. he plated to me and i heard it for the first time and i started crying, changed my life. it was all about what i observed. it was primarily all about frank. i am old enough that 27 to write up but i am not the guy to record it. tavis: i am so moved by that. the presence of mind and the authenticity and the honesty and the humility to know that this

was not for you, you do not hear those stories too often. >> you where two hats. when you are the writer, i started as a writer. i only started doing my own stuff because no one would write for me. when i got to that point of feeling secure as a writer, you have to cast the music. tom jones was the only guy to do "she's a lady." i knew i was not going to be the first guy to do it. you need to typecast as you would a motion picture. if you ride it for them and you know them, it works. -- write it for them and you know them, it works. tavis: when i was a kid, i was too young to get the humor and get the jokes and i was not always turned on by the guest

that carson had. but i turned -- but i tuned into carson every evening for one reason. that tonight show theme will live forever in my heart. it allowed me to know that there was a world beyond the world i was living in. there were certain people i did want to see, but that music. >> i call it my school song. he did not know it was going to be on the air that long. i was doing a tv special and i wanted some comedy relief. they sent me one of johnny carson as this young comic. he was blitzed, but he had to go

at 8:00 in the morning and do a kiddie program. we keep in touch when i get back to new york and he started doing the tonight show. i am changing this and i am changing this. i went in the studio. i sent it to him. the back story, stitch henderson was the orchestrate leader. i do not want that kid cutting in on me. i did not want to tell you, but i am doing you half the song. the song went on. tavis: did you ever lived to regret it? >> not at all. tavis: you mentioned something a moment ago. it comes through so clear in this book. i was impressed by the candor and by the honesty. there are a lot of people who spent their lives running away from any contact with the mob. you never played the mob game,

but you are honest about the fact that you knew these guys. >> so did frank, so did dean, so did sammy. you did not work unless you worked for them. we know who ran the record companies. we knew who controlled everything. that does not mean you were a part of it. and they were great guys to work for. they were cool if you did not get out of line. they were always well mannered, well dressed. there was no 80 pages of a contract. i floated right through without any incidents. i kept my nose clean.

we are proud of what you are doing. four years later, he wound up in a drama floating off of florida. i had nothing to do with it. i was there the night i took frank in when he punched his teeth out. i cannot tell you that i knew frank was connected or sammy was connected. there were guys you worked for. let's be careful who is throwing rocks. when i moved to italy, it was the same thing. the mob ran it well. a lot of heat on them and they were very clever. the group took the heat -- at the bottom of it all, they were still running the business.

>> let me throw these names out at you. one of the best parts of the books was about the sharing of your friends. tell me about your relationship with dean and sammy. >> frank, bobby darren and i were very close. we realized in the middle of our careers, where were we going to go from here? the voice is going to change, the kids are going to go, all we had to look at were the rat pack. i did not discover the beatles until a couple of years later. when you first meet sinatra, you are in total awe. he was one of the best friends you could ever have. when he liked you, he liked you. i learned a lot about what i do with my craft, how i present my

music. once you get in that fold and you are around it, you get experience something that i think we will never see again. there will never be anybody like frank sinatra. tavis: dean? >> dean martin was not the drinker that everybody thought. he would sing little things mean a lot. he liked to go to bed early. he would sit and watch westerns. he was a gentleman. frank adored him. he was easy to get along with. tavis: sammy.

>> sammy is the most talented performer i have ever seen in my life. he was closer to me than frank. when we would hang together, he would be very loose about it. frank was always being the boss. sammy, you would learn a lot of shtick from him and what to do on the stage. i met him as a young kid. he was always very kind to me. he was a peoples person, he was gracious to a lot of people. he wanted to be frank because he was as cool as frank and he was as hip as frank. i do a big tribute to him in my show now. i wrote one of his last songs. i do it every night on stage. one of the -- people are not aware of how talented this guy was.

tavis: how did you as this friend and a white guy process the hell, the way that he was maltreated in his career because of his skin color? >> it started earlier for me when i was on a bus to the rock 'n roll show. i was the only one allowed off

the bus to go get food for my friends. it was a total disgrace for me. what is this? when they would not allow them in the hotels, we started a movement. frank and everyone said, we are out of here. frank used to tease him a lot about it, but we were totally supportive and getting it done. they were with us or we would not be there. tavis: speaking of your family in canada, this name anka means something. >> it is a middle eastern name. my grandfather came over from the middle east. what is a derivative of? my family told me when he lived in the small village over in the middle east, a young girl was

raped. there are many tribes of a there and there is not much justice. he and his friend took it upon themselves to find the guy and they hung him. the noose itself in arabic is called anka. my grandfather said anka. and it stuck. it stuck in the guy that is hanging in the tree over there. tavis: you talk about how your mother was your muse. my mother and i are just as close. my mother and i have a relationship or anything i do in my career, we sit together and have prayer together. i ask for guidance on any

decision i am making. every season when we start this tv season. we hold hands in a big circle, 30 people, and we pray for the blessings to fall on this show. i know what it is like to have your mother be that close to you. what shocked me was how younger mother was when she died. nothing happens without his mother being consulted. she is dead at 37. >> emotional for me then and even now. as my career started, how severe her diabetes was. i would sit at the door and watch her give herself shots. as my success began and a big part of it because of her, i started realizing that she was failing. i was in denial for a while and i was very close to her. with my first check i bought her a home. it got down to where she was going blind and i was juggling

being on the road, trying to exist and trying to realize this was not going to work out. and she died. practically in my arms. i did not forget it for a long time. what was taken from me, it was diffused because all i wanted was my mother and not the success. it was my dad that was the disciplinarian. your parents and my parents, we lived by radio. my mom was the one -- i stole her car and i went to talent contest. the cops picked me up and i

would come back and there is a snowstorm. there is my mom thinking i am in bed. she was the one, your mom understood you. it was a big blow to me. i could not cry at the funeral. i reached and took her ring off her finger. tavis: what does that mean that you could not cry? >> i had to be strong, i cried in silence. in front of all of those people, because of my celebrity, i did not cry until later. tavis: where your music is concerned, who did you go to? >> tough adjustment.

it was me, my manager, it was never the same. it was never the same after that. the last thing she said to me, never date a lebanese girl. that is who i married the first time with my wife. it was like my mother talking to me. i got there yet 21 to a great women. tavis: given the time that you became a star and because you started so young, you were able to keep your nose clean. how did you do that when some many others have some majors ups and downs?

>> you go back to your upbringing, your family, canada. i always went back there. my mother and father were always on top of me. you make choices. even around the rat pack, all the stuff that we did, he protected me. you always had it drummed into you. we go to the left, a little right, but you have to stay to the center. i made the choices to say i did not want to lose what i have got. the passion that i have for what i do, it was not work. i was constantly evolving and feeling like i was getting better. you are constantly embraced by your profession.

as long as you are growing in your profession and your respected, you will stay as clean as you can because you have got somebody that you love. tavis: you played a small role in getting the beatles here for the first time. at one point in your career, you and elvis were it. >> do i look like elvis presley? tavis: what was that relationship? >> i was not a good-looking kid. we knew each other. we grew up together. we got closer when he came out to vegas. he had a lot to talk to me about and i had a lot to talk to him. he recorded "my way" because it was one of his favorite songs. at the end, we became close. our careers were not -- he was a survivor like i was. there was no one else around. tavis: back in the day, what do

you define as the defining moment of your career? so many great stories in this book. what are those defining moments? >> winding up on ed sullivan and realizing my life had changed. seeing that whole segment as a teen idol. surviving the beatles, surviving by moving to italy, recording in five languages. the next one was writing "my

way." i grew up all of a sudden. i think those were the crucial periods. in the 1970s, things really changed for me. people looked at you different comment the audience makeup was different. after that, it became smooth sailing. i have really had a great journey. i can sit back and do what i want. nothing lasts in this business. change is always going to happen. i look at these kids today who blow it and get into the bad

habits, that is terrible. tavis: it has been 60 years, do you think it might last? will it last? it has only been 60 years. i have been waiting for 10 years of doing the show on pbs. you wait for the moment when they come on the show. finally, the occasion is the new book by paul anka. it is called "my way." i have delighted so much in this conversation. that is our show for tonight. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with rita moreno. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing.

i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

provided by the gruber family foundation. the dick goldenson fund. and by the members of kqed. >> they face combat in iraq and afghanistan, and come home to find other battles. >> i would try to blend in with the other homeless people. >> someone should never sign up to defend their country and have to experience a sexual assault. >> plus, a community college program that helps veterans transition to civilian life. >> every place should have something like this.