Cheek to Cheek

"Cheek to Cheek"
Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in Swing Time, 1936
Song by Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman's Orchestra
B-side"No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)"
PublishedJuly 2, 1935 (1935-07-02) by Irving Berlin, Inc., New York[1]
ReleasedAugust 1935
RecordedJune 26, 1935 (1935-06-26)[2]
StudioARC Recording Studios, 1776 Broadway, New York City
GenreJazz, Pop Vocal
Length3:19
LabelBrunswick 7486
Songwriter(s)Irving Berlin
Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman's Orchestra singles chronology
"Flying Down to Rio"
(1934)
"Cheek to Cheek"
(1935)
"Isn't This a Lovely Day?"
(1935)

"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1934–35,[3] specifically for Fred Astaire, the star of his new musical, Top Hat, co-starring Ginger Rogers.[4] 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".[5] The song spent five weeks at #1 on Your Hit Parade and was named the #1 song of 1935.[4] Astaire's 1935 recording with the Leo Reisman Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.[6] In 2004, Astaire's version finished at No. 15 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

  1. ^ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1935). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1935 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 30 Pt 3. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
  2. ^ "BRUNSWICK 78rpm numerical listing discography: 7300 - 7500". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  3. ^ Irving Berlin Collection description from the Library of Congress's online Performing Arts Encyclopedia; retrieved 2012-03-07.
  4. ^ a b "Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire, 1935 Archived 2014-10-12 at the Wayback Machine; from the University of Virginia's American Studies website, subsection "Manufacturing Memory Archived 2014-10-14 at the Wayback Machine: 1935-1939"; retrieved 2012-03-07.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame page Archived 2011-02-19 at the Wayback Machine from www.grammy.org; retrieved 2012-04-07.