Cheek to Cheek (album)

Cheek to Cheek
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga holding hands and looking to the front
Standard edition album cover
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 19, 2014 (2014-09-19)
RecordedJune 22, 2013[1]–2014
Studio
Genre
Length34:43
Label
ProducerDae Bennett
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga chronology
Cheek to Cheek
(2014)
Love for Sale
(2021)
Tony Bennett chronology
Viva Duets
(2012)
Cheek to Cheek
(2014)
The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern
(2015)
Lady Gaga chronology
Artpop
(2013)
Cheek to Cheek
(2014)
Joanne
(2016)
Singles from Cheek to Cheek
  1. "Anything Goes"
    Released: July 29, 2014
  2. "I Can't Give You Anything but Love"
    Released: August 19, 2014

Cheek to Cheek is the first collaborative album by American singers Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, released on September 19, 2014, by Columbia and Interscope Records. It is Bennett's fifty-eighth studio album, and Gaga's fourth. The two first met at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City in 2011, and later recorded a rendition of "The Lady Is a Tramp" together, after which they began discussing plans of working on a jazz project. Cheek to Cheek consists of jazz standards by popular composers such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. It was inspired by Bennett and Gaga's desire to introduce the songs to a younger generation, since they believed these tracks have a universal appeal.

In January 2013, the album was announced by both artists and started its recording process after Gaga recovered from a hip surgery. It was recorded in New York City, where Bennett and Gaga were accompanied by a live band and jazz musicians associated with both artists. Gaga deviated from her previous contemporary pop albums as she wanted instead to create a jazz record. The release date of the album was delayed multiple times, and the final date was announced by Bennett and Gaga on The Today Show. The full-length track listing and cover artwork was released thereafter, including the track lists for many alternate editions. The artists promoted Cheek to Cheek through multiple performances in and around New York, a behind-the-scenes program detailing the recording of the album on the Home Shopping Network (HSN), and a televised concert titled Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live!, which aired on PBS in October 2014. The album was preceded by the release of two singles: "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love", which both reached number one on Billboard's Jazz Digital Songs Chart in the United States.

Cheek to Cheek received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising the vocal chemistry between Bennett and Gaga. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Cheek to Cheek debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with 131,000 copies sold in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has since sold 773,000 copies in the United States. The album became Bennett's second number-one album and Gaga's third consecutive number-one in the US; Gaga became the first female artist in the country to have three number-one albums in the 2010s decade, while Bennett extended his record as the oldest artist to achieve a number-one album on the chart. The album also reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, Greece, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The duo's second collaborative album, Love for Sale, was released on September 30, 2021.

  1. ^ @itstonybennett (June 22, 2021). "On this day in 2013: Recording sessions for the #CheektoCheek album began at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens with @LadyGaga" (Tweet). Retrieved July 11, 2021 – via Twitter.