"Diana" is a song written and first performed by

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

, who recorded it in May 1957 at

Don Costa Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and '' My Way''. ...

’s studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Anka stated in his autobiography that the song was inspired by a girl named Diana Ayoub (13 March 1939 – 1 December 2022), whom he had met at his church and community events, and had developed a crush on. Session musicians on the record included

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

on guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, Jerry Bruno on bass, and

Panama Francis David Albert "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 – November 13, 2001) was an American swing jazz drummer who played on numerous hit recordings in the 1950s. Early life Francis was born in Miami, Florida, on December 21, 1918. His father was ...

on drums. The song was recorded in May 1957 at RCA Studios in New York. Backup singers included

Artie Ripp Arthur Marcus "Artie" Ripp (born 1940) is an American music industry executive and record producer. Career Early career Ripp began his career as a singer, initially informally harmonizing rock and roll songs with friends from high school. In ...

. Paul Anka's original 1957 recording reached number 1 (for two weeks) on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' "R&B Best Sellers In Stores" chart, (although it climbed no higher than number 2 on ''Billboard''′s composite "Top 100" chart) and has reportedly sold over nine million copies. "Diana" also hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart. It also reached number 1 on the UK's ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' chart, staying there for nine weeks,Paul Anka – Full Official Chart History

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

. Retrieved March 31, 2018. and sold 1.25 million copies in the UK. After signing with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, Anka re-recorded "Diana", along with many other hits in 1963, for the album ''Paul Anka's 21 Golden Hits''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Duet with Ricky Martin

and

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

recorded a Spanish-language version of "Diana" and Anka included it on his album '' Amigos'', and released it as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1996.

Formats and track listings

CD Single #"Diana" – 3:41

Charts

Other Covers and adaptations

Frankie Lymon Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...

released a version of the song on his 1958 album ''Rock 'N Roll''. French singer

Marcel Mouloudji Marcel André Mouloudji (16 September 1922 – 14 June 1994) was a French singer and actor who was born in Paris and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He sang songs written by Boris Vian and Jacques Prévert. Personal life Mouloudji was born to Algeria ...

recorded a French version, with lyrics adapted by

Jacques Plante Joseph Jacques Omer Plante (; January 17, 1929 – February 27, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947 to 1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey. He played ...

on April 22, 1958, with The Michel Villard Ensemble. The French rock singer

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

sings the original version in his album issued in 1962 ''Johnny Hallyday Sings America's Rockin' Hits''. Paul Anka sang an Italian version of the song, also called "Diana"; the Italian lyrics were written by

Mario Panzeri Mario Panzeri (11 October 1911 – 19 May 1991) was an Italian lyricist and composer. He is well known for his composed songs that include "Maramao perché sei morto?" "Pippo non lo sa", "Lettera a Pinocchio", and "Grazie dei fior", which won t ...

. This version was released on Anka's 1963 album ''Italiano''. In 1965,

Bobby Rydell Robert Louis Ridarelli (April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022), known by the stage name Bobby Rydell, was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s he was considered a teen idol. His ...

released the song as a single and on the album ''Somebody Loves You''. Rydell's version reached No. 12 on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top 40 & 5, while reaching No. 98 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 23 on ''Billboard''s Middle Road Singles chart, and No. 100 on the ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' 100 Top Pops. In 1975, Australian band Ol' 55 released a version as their debut single. The song peaked at number 95 on the

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

. A duet was in 2006 with Anka and the famous Italian singer and entertainer

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian musician, singer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed "''il Molleggiato''" (the springy one) because of his dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and ...

, with new Italian words by

Giulio Rapetti Giulio Rapetti (born 17 August 1936), in art Mogol (), is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti, Gianni Bella, Adriano Celentano and Mango (singer), Mango. Career Mogol was born in Milan. His fat ...

(also known as Mogol) and by the same Celentano; the Italian title was "Oh Diana".Adriano Celentano e Paul Anka – Oh Diana
norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved March 31, 2018. The Bulgarian band

Wickeda Wickeda ( bg, Уикеда ) were a Bulgarian rock band. They were quite popular in Bulgaria, and occasionally topped the charts. Their style comprised punk, ska, reggae, funk and some traditional Bulgarian folk music elements. The witty lyrics ...

also covered the song in a style that includes Balkanic folk elements; and the

horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered b ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

recorded a version on their album ''

Project 1950 ''Project 1950'' is the sixth studio album by the American horror punk band the Misfits, released in 2003. It consists of cover versions of rock and roll songs from the 1950s and 1960s and marks bassist Jerry Only's debut as the Misfits' lead si ...

''. In 1959, the song was covered twice in Hindi film music. One is in the film ''

Dil Deke Dekho ''Dil Deke Dekho'' is a 1959 Indian Hindi romantic comedy film. It was Nasir Hussain's second film as a director after '' Tumsa Nahin Dekha'' (1957), which became a big hit and gave star Shammi Kapoor a new image as a comedic, dancing hero. Huss ...

'' with lyrics ''Kaun yeh aaya mehfil me'', music by

Usha Khanna Usha Khanna (born 7 October 1941) is an Indian music director in Hindi cinema. She is the third female music director to enter the Hindi film industry, after Jaddan Bai and Saraswati Devi and is one of the most commercially successful music di ...

. The other is in the film ''Baap bete'' with lyrics ''Bol bol bol my little dove'', music by

Madan Mohan Madan Mohan is a form of the Hindu god, Krishna. Krishna is celebrated as ''Madan Mohan'', who mesmerizes everyone. His consort, Radha is glorified as Madan Mohan's ''Mohini'', who can even mesmerise Madan Mohan (her Kahn). Radha is known as th ...

. Both songs are sung by

Mohammad Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

. The version in Dil deke dekho has a small portion at the end where

Asha Bhonsle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

joins in.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1957 songs 1957 singles 1965 singles 1975 singles Paul Anka songs Bobby Rydell songs Ol' 55 (band) songs Songs written by Paul Anka Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Belgium UK Singles Chart number-one singles ABC Records singles