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In addition to his near peerless abilities as a dancer of supreme invention, Fred Astaire was also a gifted ‘personality singer’. He was, single-handedly, responsible for introducing audiences worldwide to the very best entries in the Great American Songbook of the first half of the Twentieth century. Whatever his vocal shortcomings – a noticeable lack of ‘legato’, wavering pitch, punched notes and overuse of portamento – he was always able to embody the song’s syncopation, in a performance that was warmly engaging.

Astaire’s stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films, several award winning television specials, and issued numerous recordings. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute, and is best known as Ginger Rogers’ dancing partner and romantic interest, with whom he co-starred in a series of ten Hollywood musicals which transformed the genre.

Summing up his immense influence, Gene Kelly, another major innovator in filmed dance, was moved to say that “the history of dance on film begins with Astaire”.