Lesley Gore

As a teenager, Lesley Gore wrote and sang a series of pop weepers; after her hits ended, she moved into acting and songwriting.

Gore's father, a successful swimsuit manufacturer, sent her to the Dwight Preparatory School for Girls in Englewood, New Jersey. In her senior year she was discovered by Quincy Jones, who got her a record contract with Mercury Records and produced her records through 1967. As she was turning seventeen, they released her song "It's My Party," which went to #1 in June 1963.

By years end she had three more Top Five hits, Judy's Turn to Cry," "She's A Fool," and "You Don't Own Me" The later held an undeniably feminist viewpoint virtually never heard before on the pop chart. Subsequent hits included "That's the Way Boys Are," "Maybe I Know," and California Nights".

During this time, Gore attended Sarah Lawrence College, and she graduated in 1968 after her hits had stopped in 1967. She then moved to California where she worked with independent producer Bob Crewe on a series of unsuccessful records. She tried her hand at acting in films like girls on the Beach and Ski Party and television like Batman. Largely out of sight for a number of years Gore made some club appearances in 1970 and 1971, and in 1972 signed with the Motown subsidiary Mowest, but 1972's Someplace else sold poorly. In late, 1972, she signed to A&M Records where she was reunited with Quincy Jones for Love Me by Name. The album didn't sell well.

In 1980, Gore wrote the lyrics to the Oscar nominated "Out Here on My Own" from the Fame soundtrack, which featured music by her brother Michael. Gore continues to write and perform. In the late Eighties she recorded "Since I don't Have You" b/w "It's Only Make Believe" with Lou Christie.

Lesley Gore died of lung cancer February 16, 2014.