Leslie Gore

Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein) is an American singer-songwriter of the "girl group era". She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.

Lesley was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood when "It's My Party" became a no. 1 hit. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for rock and roll recording. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Gore's first hit was followed by many other songs, including "Judy's Turn to Cry" - the sequel to "It's My Party", "She's a Fool", the proto-feminist "You Don't Own Me" which held at no. 2 for four weeks behind The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "That's the Way Boys Are", "Maybe I Know" and Grammy nominated for Contemporary Rock and Roll female vocal performance "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows". Her record producer was Quincy Jones, who would later become one of the most famous producers in American music. "You Don't Own Me" also sold a million copies, and was awarded gold disc status.

Instead of accepting the television and movie contracts that came her way, Gore chose to attend Sarah Lawrence College in New York. This limited her public career to weekends and summer vacations and undoubtedly hurt her career. Nevertheless, throughout the mid 1960s Gore continued to be one of the most popular female singers in the United States and Canada.

Gore was given first shot at recording "A Groovy Kind of Love", but Shelby Singleton, a producer, recommended that she not record a song with the word "groovy" in it. The Mindbenders went on to record the song, and it went to no. 2 on the Billboard charts.

Gore announced in 2005 that she is a lesbian. Some commentators consider the lyric content of some albums to contain implicit references to Gore's sexuality. For example, she covered the song "You're the One That I Want" (from the film Grease), altering the line "'cause I need a man" to "'cause I need a friend". Leslie Gore currently lives with her partner of more than 23 years.


Source: wikipedia.org