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Cheek to Cheek

1935 classic by Fred Astaire

Summary

1935 classic by Fred Astaire

Field	Value
name	Cheek to Cheek
cover	Cheek to Cheek.jpg
caption	Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in Swing Time, 1936
published	by Irving Berlin, Inc., New York
artist	Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman's Orchestra
B-side	No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)
released	August 1935
recorded
studio	ARC Recording Studios, 1776 Broadway, New York City
genre	Jazz, Pop Vocal
length
label	Brunswick 7486
writer	Irving Berlin
prev_title	Flying Down to Rio
prev_year	1934
next_title	Isn't This a Lovely Day?
next_year	1935

| B-side = No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)

"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1934–35, specifically for Fred Astaire, the star of his new musical, Top Hat, co-starring Ginger Rogers. In the movie, Astaire sings the song to Rogers as they dance. The song was nominated for the Best Song Oscar 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 and Leo Reisman, along with his Orchestra, worked at ARC (parent company of Brunswick Records at the time) Studios in New York City. They recorded two Irving Berlin 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.

Release	Performer	Vocalist	Recording date	Album	Label	Source
1935	Guy Lombardo	Guy Lombardo
1935	The Boswell Sisters	The Boswell Sisters
1956	Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong	Ella & Louis	August 16, 1956	Ella and Louis	Verve
1956	Vic Damone	Vic Damone	1956	That Towering Feeling!	Columbia	**
1957	Lou Donaldson feat. Horace Silver Quartet	instrumental	June 20, 1952	Quartet/Quintet/Sextet	Blue Note
1957	Marcy Lutes (arr. Gil Evans)	Marcy Lutes	1956 or 1957	Debut	Decca
1958	Peggy Lee	Peggy Lee	January 3, 1958	Jump for Joy	Capitol
1958	Doris Day	Doris Day	February 24, 1958	Hooray for Hollywood	Columbia
1958	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella Fitzgerald	March 1958	Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book	Verve
1958	Billie Holiday	Billie Holiday	August 1956	All or Nothing at All	Verve
1959	Frank Sinatra	Frank Sinatra	December 1958	Come Dance with Me!	Capitol
1976	Alex Harvey	Alex Harvey	Christmas 1975	The Penthouse Tapes	Vertigo
1982	Taco	Taco	1981	After Eight	RCA Victor
2014	Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga	Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga	June 2013	Cheek to Cheek	Columbia

References

(1935). "Catalog of Copyright Entries 1935 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 30 Pt 3". U.S. Govt. Print. Off..
"BRUNSWICK 78rpm numerical listing discography: 7300 - 7500".
[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.scdb.200033879/default.html Irving Berlin Collection description] from the [[Library of Congress]]'s online Performing Arts Encyclopedia; retrieved 2012-03-07.
[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG03/Jukebox/popups/cheek.html "Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire, 1935] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-10-12 ; from the University of Virginia's American Studies website, subsection "[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG03/Jukebox/front.html Manufacturing Memory] {{Webarchive). link. (2014-10-14 : 1935-1939"; retrieved 2012-03-07.)
[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1936 The 8th Academy Awards (1936) Nominees and Winners], from the website of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (www.oscar.org); retrieved 2012-03-07.
[http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame#c Grammy Hall of Fame page] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-02-19 from www.grammy.org; retrieved 2012-04-07.)
"Cover versions of Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman and His Orchestra".
"That Towering Feeling! - Vic Damone {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic".
[https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/439516 ''Cheek to Cheek by Lou Donaldson''], ''secondhandsongs.com''.
[https://www.allmusic.com/album/debut-mw0000964279 "'Debut', Marcy Lutes: Overview"], ''[[Allmusic]]''.
"www.allmusic.com".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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

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