By Martin Roberts

MADRID - After more than 50 years in show business, 1960s teen idol Paul Anka says performing 75 dates a year is healthier than retirement.

Canadian-born Anka had his first hit with "Diana" back in 1957, when he was 16, composed "It doesn't matter any more" for rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly and his theme tune to US talk-show host Johnny Carson was heard every night for decades.

His lyrics to "My Way" were made famous by Frank Sinatra and can be heard in karaoke bars around the world, and in all he has recorded more than 120 albums.

Anka's "Rock Swings" album hit the top 10 in Britain on its 2005 release with covers of songs by artists as varied as Lionel Richie and Oasis.

He is working on a new album as well as an autobiography.

Anka spoke to Reuters by telephone about the music business, how he survived, about singers he has known including Elvis, Frank Sinatra and the "Rat Pack" and his future plans.

Paul Anka: Actually I'm doing 75, a lot of it isn't listed. I do a lot of corporate work, casino work. It's a lot easier, believe it or not, than years ago, when the business wasn't technology driven. You didn't have the control of what you wanted to do, as we have today, and with a large body of work, it's a lot easier in terms of each presentation.

You know, when you worked for the mafia in Las Vegas and all of that, you were told what to do and when and how, there was no arguing (laughs). It was a great lesson, you learned a lot in terms of focus and integrity, and professionalism.

Do you mind saying more about the mafia?

Anka: When I started out in the music business, it was run pretty much by the mafia, or the mob or Murder Incorporated. Back then they owned everything and ran everything and you had to work for them. There was nowhere else to work, 'til the Beatles opened it up and then hard rock hit in the '60s and the venues changed. But you worked for these guys and doors weren't locked, and you're there with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis and Dean Martin and it was quite interesting.

Anka: They're easier, but I think the world is more dangerous. Back then, (US President John) Kennedy could come in and there were girls and hookers and dancers and you never saw it in the papers. You can't get away with that today in the big media world. They're all over these people, Britney Spears or whoever.

Talking about technological change in the music business, do you have any views on downloading?

Anka: It has changed and it will change, I think CDs will be obsolete, the record people I deal with will be obsolete. Like in the movie business, or any of those infrastructures, you have to change with the times and the downloading issue is an issue. But I think everything will work out once everyone accepts what that new model is.

You've been in the business 51 years - what new challenges do you have left?

Anka: It's working with new artistes like Michael Buble, it's writing a book, it's what's my next CD going to be, with new songs, as opposed to the covers I did on the last two. There's a comfort zone that you fall into from longevity that allows you to function differently. I don't have to sweat it out thinking what I have to do to reinvent myself.

Anka: I would say the '60s was the most difficult period in terms of having that ball and chain on. But it was curious because while all the others were out of the business, I was still functioning and earning a great living, maybe because I was a writer. "My Way" was really the turning point, because I wasn't a teenage writer any more, I was this guy who wrote for his buddy.

Looking back, so many people in the business haven't survived, yet you have. Is there a secret?

Anka: We all make choices in life and maybe that was hammered home to me as a kid, because no one wanted to protect me. I did it on my own, I surrounded myself with good people, I wanted not to be the smartest person in the room all the time.

I saw Sinatra and all those guys and how they lived well. I learned from them, but I also learned what not to do: the drinking and the drugs. It was survival of the fittest.

I went through it with Presley and realized, shit, these guys are not handling success right, and I don't want to isolate myself from who I am, where I came from. And I'd sit with Elvis, and I'd say, "Let's just go out, don't get so caught up in hiding and aluminum foil on the windows." You know, he was a nice guy, it just got the best of him, and I said, shit, I don't want that to happen to me... Ultimately, I saw that it could destroy you, and I didn't want that.

No thoughts of retirement then?

Anka: I don't believe in that. If you're healthy today, if you look at the life expectancy today, the key to that is activity. I'm a health nut, I know I need that activity and I need to get out there and keep doing what I love.

Because I saw Frank Sinatra saying "I'm quitting" and then I wrote "My Way" and "Now, the end is near," I just put it metaphorically in his terms. He came back, everybody did, because I saw him sitting around in his house, playing with trains, looking at flowers and bullshit stuff, and I said, "You're Frank Sinatra!" (laughs).