"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russi ...
in 1934–35, specifically for the star of his new musical,
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history.
Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...
. The movie was ''
Top Hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...
'', co-starring
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
.
["Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire, 1935](_blank)
; from the University of Virginia's American Studies website, subsection
: 1935-1939"; retrieved 2012-03-07. In the movie, Astaire sings the song to Rogers as they dance. The song was nominated for the Best Song
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
for 1936, which it lost to "
Lullaby of Broadway". The song spent five weeks at #1 on
Your Hit Parade
''Your Hit Parade'' was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year ru ...
and was named the #1 song of 1935.
Astaire's 1935 recording with the
Leo Reisman Orchestra was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...
in 2000. In 2004, Astaire's version finished at No. 15 on
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
Release
On June 26, 1935,
Fred
Fred may refer to:
People
* Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Mononym
* Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French
* Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...
and
Leo Reisman
Leo F. Reisman (October 11, 1897 – December 18, 1961) was an American violinist and bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s. Born and reared in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, he was of Jewish ancestry; from German immigrants who immigrated to th ...
, along with his Orchestra, got to work at
ARC (parent company of
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...
at the time) Studios 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 ...
. They recorded two
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russi ...
compositions, "Cheek To Cheek" and "
No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)". The next day, with Johnny Greene's Orchestra, "
Isn't This a Lovely Day?
"Isn't This a Lovely Day?" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1935 film ''Top Hat'', where it was introduced by Fred Astaire in the scene where his and Ginger Rogers' characters are caught in a gazebo during a rainstorm.
The lyric ...
" and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" were completed. Both singles were released in August, and then at the end of the month, "Top Hat" premiered. The timing must have been perfect, because "Cheek to Cheek" headed straight to #1, where it stayed for eleven weeks, and finished the #1 hit of 1935. Fred topped his career high of ten weeks for "
Night And Day".
Recorded versions
According to the database of secondhandsongs.com, "Cheek to Cheek" has been recorded by 438 different artists as of July 2021.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheek To Cheek
1935 songs
1935 singles
Al Jolson songs
Billie Holiday songs
Bing Crosby songs
Doris Day songs
Ella Fitzgerald songs
Eva Cassidy songs
Frank Sinatra songs
Fred Astaire songs
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Lady Gaga songs
Louis Armstrong songs
Peggy Lee songs
Rod Stewart songs
Sammy Davis Jr. songs
Songs about dancing
Songs written for films
Songs written by Irving Berlin
Tony Bennett songs