According to composer Matt Dennis, Herb Jeffries was the first to record “Angel Eyes,” but the song’s popularity faltered when Jeffries’ recording company folded. Nat “King” Cole then recorded the song as the B-side to his 1953 hit, “Return to Paradise.” Dennis, however, credits Ella Fitzgerald as the vocalist who popularized “Angel Eyes” saying, “Finally Ella recorded it for Norman Granz. She’s done it four times since. I’m thrilled because she’s always included it in her shows.”

A Herb Jeffries recording of “Angel Eyes” is included on his Say It Isn’t So CD (1957).

Fitzgerald often cited “Angel Eyes” as one of her favorite songs, and Chris Connor claims that Ella personally told her that it was her all-time favorite. Carol Sloane, on the other hand, claims Fitzgerald’s favorite was “I Want Something to Live For.” Fitzgerald delivers equally heartfelt performances of both these songs on the DVD American Masters: Ella Fitzgerald Something to Live For (1999). A New York Times article notes, “Because both songs are sad, they hint at feelings that Fitzgerald kept mostly to herself, since she infused everything she performed with a sense of joy and almost heavenly confidence.”

One early performer of “Angel Eyes” that Matt Dennis did not mention was himself. The first film to include his rendition was Jennifer (1953). The Bradshaw sheet music associated with the film has Nat “King” Cole on the cover, but notes inside say, “As sung by Matt Dennis in the picture Jennifer starring Ida Lupino & Howard Duff.”

Today Frank Sinatra is more closely associated with “Angel Eyes” than any of the aforementioned performers. He recorded the song a number of times, most notably on the album he has referred to as his favorite, Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958). His rendition is interesting in that he begins not at the chorus, but the refrain, “Hey drink up all you people...” In 1971, Sinatra gave his first in a series of farewell concerts, choosing “Angel Eyes” for his last song and “Excuse me while I disappear” for his last line.

“Angel Eyes” is often called “intimate,” “personal,” “lonely,” “weepy,” “bluesy,” “a torch song,” or “a saloon song,” the latter being a category that also contains “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road),” and “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.” - JW

Earl Brent’s lyrics describe a patron in a bar or lounge, lamenting the absence of “Angel Eyes, that old devil sent.” Brent’s choice for the hook and title, “Angel Eyes,” has been used as a popular song title many times before and since the Dennis/Brent ballad, including a 1910 hit by Elida Morris and Billy Murray and a 1989 hit by the Jeff Healey Band.

The term “Angel Eyes” is not only the name of many popular songs it is also the title of a 2001 Warner Brothers film starring Jennifer Lopez; numerous books, including those by Jane Adams (2002), Loren D. Estleman (1992), and Thea Devine (1991); an artbook of Akimi Yoshida’s illustrations (1994); and the nickname of Lee Van Cleef’s sadistic villain in the 1966 Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Last but not least, Angel Eyes is the name of a therapy cream for your eyes, “Nothing can replace your natural beauty, but Angel Eyes can make you more beautiful through the healing power of Oxygen.”