Bieber to team up with Anka?

Artistic collaboration is in the air for Justin Bieber and that other Canadian former teen idol, Paul Anka.

Bieber and Anka? The 16-year-old pop idol and the 69-year-old class act? Laugh if you will, but the pairing of Anka, one of the most prolific hit song makers in our generation, makes huge sense and could help Bieber maintain his popularity as he “ages out” of his teen beat status and his voice changes.

A very well-placed source says the 69-year-old Anka — still a songwriting and performing powerhouse who has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and anybody who’s anybody in the music business — had a long, private meeting with the hottest music act on the planet on Oct. 25.

The meeting took place at Bieber’s private room at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a few hours before he performed in concert.

“Paul Anka was in there for at least 90 minutes,” remarked my source. “Something was up. They were really gabbing about something.”

To be sure, whenever the 16-year-old trendsetter plays in L.A., many Canadian artists such as Avril Lavigne, Drake and Deryck Whibley hang out with him.

But this was different.

Anka doesn’t hang out or hang on.

Spied separately by a paparazzo videographer from the celebrity website, X-17.com, at the Staples Center that night, Anka said he was at the concert with his family because his five-year-old son Ethan is a fan and that Bieber is “Canadian like me. Canadians like to cheer each other on.”

But another music industry source says Anka has a deal with Island Records, the same label that has produced Bieber’s recent stuff, and there have been many meetings about getting the two together as collaborators.

This means either Anka writes Bieber some new tunes and/or they record some duets together.

Let’s not forget Anka — known back in the day for having girls swoon as he crooned his adolescent hit Diana when he was 16 — knows how to put on a helluva show and writes classic songs, not one-hit wonders.

Anka’s song Puppy Love put little Donny Osmond on the charts in the 1970s. Ditto when Tom Jones sang Anka’s creation, She’s a Lady. Of course the biggest hit Anka penned was My Way — the song Frank Sinatra belted to the moon and the song he’ll always be remembered for.

More recently, Anka has shown he can work with any type of artist — and penned This is It with Michael Jackson, which ended up being the hit single on Jackson’s final album before he died.

Anka seemed to have indicated he’d already been asked by Island to work with Bieber when he gave this philosophical answer about the popular teen to QMI Agency following his October concert in Toronto’s Massey Hall.

“My statement’s always been, especially when managers come hyping acts, I say, ‘Don’t tell me how hot they are, tell me how long they’ve been around.’

“And what record companies are really concerned with today, and agents and what have you, there’s just no longevity with these acts today. We live in a disposable society. It’s certainly (Bieber’s) Broadway right now. And he seems to be a nice young man. I don’t know that he, or any of the others, has what it takes to last.”

Maybe Anka, who’s probably more familiar with the ins and outs of the music industry than he’ll take credit for, is up to taking his fellow Canadian under his wing and teach him “what it takes to last.”

For the record: Before Anka and his family attended the Bieber Staples concert, following their meeting, Anka made a quick return to his car for earplugs.