All inducted songs
“Buddy wanted to do something like I did with ‘You Are My Destiny’ with the violins,”
It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
  • Year Inducted: 2008
  • Written In: 1958
Songwriters
Paul Anka Songwriter
© Photo Credit Library & Archives Canada
Artists
Paul Anka
Buddy Holly, The Crickets
Mike Berry
Suzy Bogguss with Dave Edmunds
Freddy & the Dreamers
Serena Ryder
Linda Ronstadt
Martin Simpson
The Astronauts
It Doesn’t Matter Anymore, an empowering ballad about moving on after suffering from a broken heart, was written by Paul Anka especially for Buddy Holly to record. “Buddy wanted to do something like I did with ‘You Are My Destiny’ with the violins,” Anka recalled. The song was recorded by Holly on October 21, 1958 with Anka present during the session.

It Doesn’t Matter Anymore was released the following January. A month later, Holly died tragically at the age of 22, in a plane crash that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians J.P Richardson and Ritchie Valens. The artists were all in Clear Lake, Iowa for the Winter Dance Party show, which also included a performance by Anka. They finished their show at the Surf Ballroom and boarded a small aircraft chartered to take them to their next show in Fargo, North Dakota. The plane crashed a few minutes after take-off, killing everyone aboard. Divine intervention saved Anka from boarding the flight, as his manager Irvin Feld told him to stay behind because he had promised Anka’s father he would keep an eye on him.

Soon after Holly’s untimely death, It Doesn’t Matter Anymore became a hit, reaching #1 on the British charts and climbing to #13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. “The success of ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’ gave me a broader parameter of credibility as a writer,” Anka once stated.

The song has been covered by many artists, from Linda Ronstadt on her #1 album Heart Like A Wheel (1974) to the late Eva Cassidy on her 2002 album Imagine.

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It Doesn't Matter Anymore (Paul Anka) - performed by Serena Ryder
"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" performed by Canadian recording artist Serena Ryder at the 2008 CSHF Induction Ceremony.
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