"Cheek to Cheek" was written by Irving Berlin, who composed the music and lyrics in 1934 and 1935 for Fred Astaire, the star of the musical film Top Hat (1935), directed by Mark Sandrich. In the film Astaire sings it to co-star Ginger Rogers as they dance. Astaire recorded it on June 26, 1935, with Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, and the record went straight to number one, stayed there for eleven weeks and was the year's top hit. It also spent five weeks at number one on Your Hit Parade. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for 1936, losing to "Lullaby of Broadway". Astaire's recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000, and it ranked No. 15 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs list in 2004. The melody is said to resemble Chopin's Polonaise héroïque. Early versions came from Guy Lombardo and The Boswell Sisters in 1935, and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded one in 1956. Sung in English, it is a jazz and pop vocal standard.
