"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

in 1934–35, specifically for

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

, the star of his new musical, ''

Top Hat A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...

'', 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
; 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 and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for 1936, which it lost to " Lullaby of Broadway". The song spent five weeks at #1 on Your Hit Parade 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 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.

Composition & Release

The song was composed by Irving Berlin, with a melody drawing similarity to the theme of Chopin's '' Polonaise héroïque'', itself inspired by the Polish folk dance. On June 26, 1935,

Fred Fred or 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), Fred ...

and Leo Reisman, along with his Orchestra, worked at ARC (parent company of

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

at the time) Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They recorded two

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?" 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. "Cheek to Cheek" headed straight to #1, where it stayed for eleven weeks, and finished the #1 hit of 1935. Fred Astaire 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