Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein; May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16 (in 1963) she recorded the pop hit “It’s My Party”, and followed it up with other hits including “Judy’s Turn to Cry”, “You Don’t Own Me”, and “California Nights”. Gore also worked as an actress and composed songs with her brother, Michael Gore, for the 1980 film Fame, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She hosted an LGBT-oriented public television show, In the Life, on American TV in the 2000s, and was active until 2014. (More from Wikipedia)
This is not to say that there aren’t other prominent lesbian rock musicians; but for the most part, that fact was not known about them when most people were paying attention. Lesley Gore brought girl-group vocal stylings to the airwaves as a solo artist while she was still a teenager; in part this was accomplished by sometimes double-tracking her vocals, but her throaty singing is strong enough to stand on its own.
Lesley Gore’s first album, I’ll Cry If I Want To – the second line in her #1 hit song “It’s My Party” – collects numerous songs about crying, including her own answer song, “Judy’s Turn to Cry”, plus competent covers of pop songs of the day like “Misty” and “Cry Me a River” that most early-1960’s albums are saddled with. There are numerous other gems nonetheless in Gore’s early career. One of Lesley Gore’s best songs is the proto-feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me” from her second album, Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts; her other two hits from that album, “She’s a Fool” and “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” are also top-notch. “California Nights” reached the Top 20 in 1967; the song was co-written by Marvin Hamlisch as was “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”.
These two albums were produced by Quincy Jones, one of the best in the business – Michael Jackson’s Thriller is only the best-known of his production efforts – and a talented jazz artist and bandleader in his own right with a Renaissance-man career that dates back to the early 1950’s.
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While she had never any other major hit songs, Lesley Gore continued recording, and she also appeared on the final episode of The Donna Reed Show in 1966. Her other acting credits include two episodes of the Batman television series in early 1967 as one of Catwoman’s minions.
In 1980, Lesley Gore wrote songs for the movie Fame, including “Out Here on My Own” that was co-written with her brother Michael Gore; he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the title song, “Fame” (the lyrics were written by Dean Pitchford).
In a 2005 interview, Lesley Gore acknowledged that she was a lesbian who had been in a committed relationship since the early 1980’s. Also in 2005, she released the critically acclaimed album, Ever Since.
(January 2014)
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