Lesley Gore

Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein,

Gore later worked as an actress and television personality. She composed songs with her brother Michael Gore for the 1980 film Fame, which received an Academy Award Best Song nomination for "Out Here On My Own". She hosted several editions of the LGBT-oriented public television show In the Life on American TV in the 2000s.

Early life and education Gore was born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York City, Her father was the owner of Peter Pan, a children's swimwear and underwear manufacturer, and later became a leading brand licensing agent in the apparel industry. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood. She also attended Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a degree in American literature.

Career 1963–1979: Commercial success Gore was discovered after her uncle gave Joe Glaser a tape of her singing that he forwarded to Irving Green, president of Mercury Records. Green gave the tape to Quincy Jones for evaluation and Jones, recognizing her talent, became her producer. She was 16 years old. When she recorded her version of "It's My Party" in 1963, she was a junior in high school. It became a number-one, nationwide hit. Gore's version was certified as a Gold record. It also marked the beginning of a time when fans would show up on her front lawn. In 1965, she also appeared in the beach party film The Girls on the Beach in which she performed three songs: "Leave Me Alone", "It's Gotta Be You", and "I Don't Want to Be a Loser".

Gore was given first shot at recording "A Groovy Kind of Love" by songwriters Carole Bayer and Toni Wine with a melody borrowed from a sonatina by Muzio Clementi, but Shelby Singleton, a producer for Mercury subsidiary Smash Records, refused to let Gore record a song with the word "groovy" in its lyrics. "That's the Way the Ball Bounces" and "One by One". "That's the Way the Ball Bounces" was recorded September 21, 1963, at A&R Studios in New York; it was released as the B-side of "That's the Way Boys Are" and appeared on the LP Boys Boys Boys. "One by One" was an unreleased track recorded on July 31, 1969, in New York and produced by Paul Leka; it first appeared on the Bear Family five-CD anthology of Gore's Mercury work entitled It's My Party (1994).

Gore performed on two consecutive episodes of the Batman television series (January 19 and 25, 1967), in which she guest-starred as Pussycat, one of Catwoman's minions. "California Nights", which Gore recorded for her 1967 album of the same name, returned her to the top twenty of the Hot 100. She graduated in 1968.

Gore signed a contract with Mercury Records with a five-year term that carried her obligations to the company through the spring of 1968. Her last big hit had been 12 months prior to this time, but Mercury still saw promise in her as an artist and believed that one of her singles would make it, as they had in the past. They offered a one-year extension on the initial contract, and Gore was formally contracted to Mercury for a sixth year. During this time, "He Gives Me Love (La La La)", a single release based on a Eurovision Song Contest winner, rose to number 96 on the Music Business charts, while bubbling under the Hot 100 in Billboard. Mercury took out a full-page ad in the trades to support the single, but its airplay was spotty, becoming a hit in only a few major markets. She was then paired with the successful soul producers Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell for two singles that took her into the "soul" genre: "I'll Be Standing By" and "Take Good Care (Of My Heart)". These songs did not fit the image Mercury had crafted for her, and the singles were not played. Her contract with Mercury ended after the release of "98.6/Lazy Day" and "Wedding Bell Blues" failed to make headway on the charts.

In 1970, she signed with Crewe Records and was reunited with producer Bob Crewe, who had produced her album California Nights. Her first release under the label, "Why Doesn't Love Make Me Happy", was a moderate hit on the Adult Contemporary chart, but none of her other singles would prove to be successful. She left Crewe Records in 1971 when the label went bankrupt.

In 1972, Gore signed with MoWest Records, a subsidiary of Motown, and in July of that year released her first studio album in five years, Someplace Else Now. All of the songs were either written or co-written by Gore, with collaborators Ellen Weston and her brother Michael. Due to the failure of the album's sole single, "She Said That", along with poor promotion, Someplace Else Now died on the shelf.

1980–2014: As composer Gore composed songs for the soundtrack of the 1980 film Fame, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for "Out Here on My Own," written with her brother, Michael Gore. Michael won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the theme song of the same film. Gore played concerts and appeared on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2005, Gore recorded Ever Since (her first album of new material since Love Me By Name in 1976), with producer/songwriter Blake Morgan, with the label Engine Company Records. The album received favorable reviews from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and other national press. Gore commented: "Without the loud backing track, I could wring more meaning from the lyric". And: "It's a song that takes on new meaning every time you sing it." She had realized she was attracted to women by the time she was 20 and stated that although the music business was "totally homophobic", she never felt she had to pretend she was straight. "I just kind of lived my life naturally and did what I wanted to do", she said. "I didn't avoid anything, I didn't put it in anybody's face." At the time of her death, Gore and Sasson had been together for 33 years.

Her New York Times obituary stated "with songs like 'It's My Party,' 'Judy's Turn to Cry', and the indelibly defiant 1964 single 'You Don't Own Me' — all recorded before she was 18 — Gore made herself the voice of teenaged girls aggrieved by fickle boyfriends, moving quickly from tearful self-pity to fierce self-assertion".

Awards and recognition In 1964, "It's My Party" was nominated for a Grammy Award for rock-and-roll recording and, in 1981, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing "Out Here on My Own" for the film Fame.

National Public Radio named Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts, Gore's second album, as forebearer of one of the top 150 albums recorded by women. The album missed the official list (1964–present) because it was released in 1963. "She is a forebearer for her assertion of feminine power in pop, and her validation of a female perspective."

Gore's papers were donated to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and became accessible to the public in 2022. Catalogued by the library and her partner Lois Sasson, it includes family photos, scrapbook pages, annotated music and lyrics, business files, an unfinished memoir, and sound and video recordings.

Discography

I'll Cry If I Want To (1963) Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts (1963) Boys, Boys, Boys (1964) Girl Talk (1964) My Town, My Guy & Me (1965) Lesley Gore Sings All About Love (1966) Off and Running (1967, canceled) California Nights (1967) Magic Colors (1967, canceled) Someplace Else Now (1972) Love Me By Name (1976) The Canvas Can Do Miracles (1982) Ever Since (2005) Magic Colors: The Lost Album (2011)

Filmography

Film Year Film Role Notes 1964 The T.A.M.I Show Herself Concert film 1965 The Girls on the Beach Herself Sings "Leave Me Alone", "It's Gotta Be You" and "I Don't Wanna Be A Loser" Ski Party Herself Sings "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" 1968 The Pied Piper of Astroworld Bo Peep Television film 1977 Dick Clark's Good Old Days Herself Television film 1985 Good Time Rock 'n' Roll Herself Television documentary 1986 Deja View Herself Direct-to-video 1988 Legendary Ladies of Rock & Roll Herself Television special 1990 Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones Herself Documentary 1991 Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll Herself Television documentary 1992 In the Life Herself Television documentary 1998 Quincy Jones... The First 50 Years Herself Television documentary 2000 Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) Herself Television documentary 2003 Rock at Fifty Herself Television documentary 2008 An Evening with Quincy Jones Herself Television documentary Airplay: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio Herself Documentary

Television Year Name Role Notes 1963 Club 1270 Herself A teen-oriented dance-party television show on WXYZ-TV in Detroit ("1270" was a reference to the frequency of WXYZ-AM radio, a leading Top 40 station in the Detroit area at the time, now WXYT). The Keefe Brasselle Show Herself American Bandstand Herself Season 6, episode 194, AB-1528: Lesley Gore – aired 5/30/63. 1963–64 Thank Your Lucky Stars Herself Recurring guest; 2 episodes 1963–70 The Ed Sullivan Show Herself Recurring guest; 4 episodes: season 16, episode 3 – Other guests: Tony Bennett, Frank Gorshin, Bob & Ray – aired 10/13/63; season 17, episode 18 – Other guests: Burt Lancaster, Mickey Rooney, Miriam Makeba, Shelley Berman – aired 1/31/65; season 21, episode 32 – Other guests: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Gwen Verdon; season 22, episode 30 – Other guests: Richie Havens, Moms Mabley, Stiller & Meara – aired 4/26/70. 1965–71 The Mike Douglas Show Herself Recurring guest; 13 episodes: The Mike Douglas Show Herself Season 4: episode 237 – aired 8/4/65, season 5: episode 47 – aired 11/9/65, season 5, episode 216 – aired 7/11/66, season 6: episode 16 – aired 9/26/66, season 6: episode 92 – aired 1/10/67, season 6: episode 176 – aired 5/8/67, season 7: episode 106 – aired 1/29/68, season 7: episode 201 – aired 6/10/68, season 8: episode 42 – aired 11/5/68, season 8: episode 150 – aired 4/4/69, season 9: episode 25 – – aired 10/3/69, season 9: episode 51 – aired 11/10/69, season 9: episode 136 – aired 3/9/70, season 10: episode 118 – aired 2/17/71 Where the Action Is Herself Season 6, episode 237 – aired 9/10/66, other guests: the Four Tops What's My Line? Herself Mystery guest; season 1, episode 131 – aired 1/31/1968 1969–70 Della Herself Recurring guest; 2 episodes: season 1, episode 14 – aired 6/26/69; season 1, episode 154 – aired 1/13/70. Frank recreates American Bandstand for Murphy's 50th birthday; guests Dick Clark; Fabian; Lesley Gore; Chubby Checker; Sally Field. A Capitol Fourth Herself Lesley performed in concert for the annual "A Capitol Fourth" July 4 celebration in Washington. The show was nationally televised by PBS on the evening of July 4, 1998. (Frank Dixon original source on this). 2001 Walk on By: The Story of Popular Song Herself Episode: "Producer Pop" Biography Herself Episode: "Lesley Gore: 'It's Her Party'" 2002 Hollywood Squares Herself Recurring guest; 2 episodes 2005 Party Planner with David Tutera Herself Episode: "Broadway Legend's Soiree" 2006 In the Life Herself Season 1, episode 116 on Logo Borders – aired 1/1/06