At first glance, it would appear that Paul Anka has done it all. He has written more than 900 songs during his 44 years in show business. These include a string of hits ("Diana," "Puppy Love" and "Put Your Head On My Shoulder") for himself that delighted millions of star-crazed, screaming adolescent girls in the 1950s and provided what one critic called a "safe alternative to that crotch-grabbing Satanist Elvis Presley." And they include several classics for other artists, including the late Frank Sinatra ("My Way"), Tom Jones ("She's A Lady"); and the theme from The Tonight Show, which introduced Johnny Carson, its former host, for more than 30 years.

Anka, as much a hard-nosed businessman as he is a performer, has successfully reinvented himself to adapt to changes in the entertainment industry, emerging, for example, as an international nightclub performer after his days as a teen idol. He has made 123 albums, widening his international reach by issuing several of them in Japanese, German, Spanish, French and Italian. He has had a record on Billboard's Top 50 charts in each of five decades. He has appeared in and composed music for movies.

There is one thing that Anka has not done yet - perform with an orchestra of brass and wind instruments.

That will change next Sunday when he appears with the Piedmont Wind Symphony at Reynolds Auditorium. The performance represents an attempt by the symphony "to reach out to a broader audience," said conductor Robert Simon. The Wind Symphony usually engages a high-profile jazz artist each spring in the much-smaller Brendle Recital Hall at Wake Forest University,

"We felt it was a great opportunity when it came up," Simon said. "He's someone who is not on the East Coast much, in smaller cities. A lot of his music has a big-band and rock feel behind it. That's something we're good for."

Anka credited his friend, local resident Allen Shaw, with helping arrange his engagement here. Anka said he and his large creative team (23 backstage personnel are expected to accompany him to Winston-Salem for what is being billed as a multimedia extravaganza) are "rather excited about this because of its potential and because of its content."

"(Playing with) the wind symphony is significant," he said. "It has allowed us to bring out songs that we normally wouldn't do."

These include versions, arranged by symphony member Patrick Tucker, of such tunes as "Mack the Knife," "For Once in My Life" and "I've Got You Under My Skin." In addition, Anka plans to resurrect the theme song that he composed for the film The Longest Day. An overture that reprises the thematic material of some of Anka's favorite songs will open his portion of the concert, which will be preceded by a performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Fans hungering for a little nostalgia won't be disappointed. Anka said he never retires songs, even those he wrote in the 1950s.

Simon said that such tunes as "Diana," "Puppy Love" and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" would be performed either in unabridged form or as part of a medley.

Anka played up what he called "some special video stuff." During these segments, the audience will see filmed performances of such artists as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. singing songs that Anka composed for them.

"It's an unusual effort," Simon said. "He'll do a duet with the artists that he wrote songs for, and we'll back him up."

Simon said that these and other segments would add up to "something someone would see in Las Vegas and New York."

He acknowledged that Anka was indeed as demanding as his video biography, Paul Anka: Music Man, asserts.

"He (Anka) is demanding because he wants the audience to have the best possible show," he said. "His personnel have been with him forever. People don't stay with artists (that long) unless they're great to work for."

Anka still tours 30 to 35 weeks a year, appearing in casinos and concert halls over the world. And he still writes songs, spending as much as 12 hours a day at the intricate craft of marrying words with memorable melodies. Several new albums are in the works, he said.

He has no plans, though, to reinvent himself, at least not as radically as he has done in the past.

"I've found a place where I'm happy as a performer," he said. "My demographics have stayed with me. Our business is very good."

. Paul Anka will perform with the Piedmont Wind Symphony at 7:30 p.m. next Sunday in Reynolds Auditorium. The concert, directed by Robert Simon, will open with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Tickets are $35 to $95; call 721-1945.

The Piedmont Wind Symphony offered up another winning concert last night, presenting singer-songwriter Paul Anka at Reynolds Auditorium.

The promised sellout did not materialize. Did the ticket prices that ranged from $35 to $95 keep some fans away? The hundreds who did turn out certainly got their money's worth, as a kaleidoscope of spotlights swirled all over the stage and the orchestra-level seats.

A little bit of Las Vegas really did flavor the glitzy proceedings. The symphony's musicians, bolstered by Anka's rhythm section and several of his horn players, were at their swinging best under Robert Simon's able direction.

Anka has been in show business for 45 years, so he knows how to charm a crowd - either by working the aisles or telling earthy jokes. We learned, for instance, that Bill Clinton once necked to Anka's records. And that P.M.S. actually means 'Paul must suffer' - Anka has five daughters.

During the performance, a few lucky patrons even got their pictures taken with Anka, who encouraged the audience to forget the usual rules against photographs and pop their flashcubes.

Another fan put her head on Anka's shoulder as he sang the song that helped make all those girls swoon during the 1950s.

Actually, 'Put Your Head on My Shoulder' transformed itself into an appealingly sultry ballad. Anka opened the show with 'Diana,' another of his early hits. The number came on the heels of a brief autobiographical film shown on a large screen.

The screen would come down once more, in the show's middle, to show a brief excerpt of the late Sammy Davis Jr. tap dancing and singing. The moment turned out to be a moving tribute to Davis, for whom Anka wrote a song extolling the virtues of determination and freedom.

Some of the show was taken up with numbers, arranged expertly by symphony member Patrick Tucker, that Anka had not sung before.

Anka, 61, can still belt out a tune with the best of them. His heart-felt phrasing and impeccable enunciation recalled similar qualities in the late Frank Sinatra, for whom Anka wrote 'My Way.'

Anka closed the show by singing this timeless classic, interspersing his beguiling performance with excerpts from Sinatra's recorded version.

. Ken Keuffel can be reached at 727-7337 or at kkeuffel@wsjournal.com