"Diana" is a song written and made famous by Paul Anka in 1957, recorded in May 1957 at Don Costa studio in New York. Reportedly inspired by a high school friend of Anka's named Diana Ayoub, in an interview with NPR's Terry Gross in 2005, Anka stated that it was inspired by a girl at his church whom he hardly knew. Session musicians on the record included Bucky Pizzarelli on Guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, Jerry Bruno on bass, and Panama Francis on drums. The song was recorded in May 1957 at RCA studios. Backup singers included Artie Ripp (who later in his career as a music industry executive was the first to sign Billy Joel as a solo artist after Michael Lang, who had given Joel a monetary advance, passed Joel along to Ripp to focus his attentions elsewhere instead.)