Lesley Gore
| Lesley Gore | |
|---|---|
 Gore as a Batman guest star, 1967 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | May 2, 1946 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop Rock music |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Associated acts | Sue Thompson, Brenda Lee |
| Website | lesleygore.com |
Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein[1] May 2, 1946) is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16.
Contents |
Early life [edit]
Gore was born in New York City. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, in a Jewish family.[2] Her younger brother, Michael, was an Oscar winner for Best Original Song for the theme song of Fame. Her father, Leo Gore, was a wealthy manufacturer of children's clothes and swimwear.
Lesley was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood when "It's My Party" became a #1 hit. It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for rock and roll recording.[3] It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.[4]
1960s career [edit]
Gore's first hit was followed by many others, including the sequel to "It's My Party" entitled "Judy's Turn to Cry" (US #5); "She's a Fool" (US #5); the protofeminist million-selling "You Don't Own Me",[4] which held at #2 for three weeks behind the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand"; "That's the Way Boys Are" (US #12); "Maybe I Know" (US #14/UK #20); "Look of Love" (US #27); and Grammy-nominated "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" (US #13), from the 1965 movie Ski Party. Still in 1965, she appears in the beach party film The Girls on the Beach in which she performs three songs: "Leave Me Alone", "It's Gotta Be You" and "I Don't Want to Be a Loser". Her record producer Quincy Jones, responsible for all her hits from 1963 to 1965, would later become one of the most famous producers in American music.
Gore was given first shot at recording "A Groovy Kind of Love", but Shelby Singleton, a producer for Smash Records, a Mercury subsidiary, 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 #2 on the Billboard charts.[5]
Gore performed on two consecutive episodes of the Batman TV series (January 19 and 25 1967), in which she guest-starred as Pussycat, one of Catwoman's minions. In the January 19 episode "That Darn Catwoman" she lip-synched to the Bob Crewe-produced "California Nights", and in the January 25 episode "Scat! Darn Catwoman" to "Maybe Now".[5] "California Nights", which Gore recorded for her 1967 hit album of the same name, returned her to the upper reaches of the Hot 100. The Bob Crewe-produced single peaked at number 16 in March 1967 (with a then-sizeable 14 weeks on the chart) – her first top 40 hit since "My Town, My Guy and Me" in late 1965 and her first top 20 since "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows", which, like "California Nights", was co-written by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling.
Gore also performed the single "We Know We're in Love" ten months earlier on the final episode of The Donna Reed Show, which aired on March 19, 1966.
After high school, while continuing to work, Gore attended Sarah Lawrence College and studied English and American literature; she graduated in 1968.[6][7]
Later career [edit]
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.[8]
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, for the small independent label Engine Company Records. In addition to extensive national radio coverage and critical acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, and other national press, three songs from Ever Since have been used in television shows and films: Better Angels, in CSI: Miami's fourth season premiere episode, "Words We Don't Say", in an episode of The L Word, and "It's Gone", in the Jeff Lipsky-directed film Flannel Pajamas.
In 2009, "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" was featured in the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" was also used in the Simpsons episode "Marge on the Lam", for the Butlins Company TV advertisements in 2008 and for the Target Australia homewares TV advertisement in 2010.
Personal life [edit]
Beginning in 2004, Gore hosted the PBS television series In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues.[9] She stated in a 2005 interview that she was a lesbian.[9] At the time of the interview, Gore had been living with her partner for more than 23 years.[9]
Discography [edit]
Studio albums [edit]
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2011) |
| Year | Album details | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US [10] |
||
| 1963 | I'll Cry If I Want to
|
24 |
Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts
|
125 | |
| 1964 | Boys, Boys, Boys
|
127 |
Girl Talk
|
146 | |
| 1965 | My Town, My Guy, and Me
|
120 |
| 1966 | Lesley Gore Sings All About Love
|
— |
| 1967 | California Nights
|
169 |
Magic Colors
|
— | |
| 1972 | Someplace Else Now
|
— |
| 1976 | Love Me by Name
|
— |
| 1982 | The Canvas Can Do Miracles
|
— |
| 2005 | Ever Since
|
— |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||
Compilation albums [edit]
| Year | Album details | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US [10] |
||
| 1965 | The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore
|
95 |
| 1968 | Lesley Gore Golden Hits, Vol. 2 [11]
|
— |
| 1986 | The Lesley Gore Anthology
|
— |
| 1994 | Lesley Gore: It's My Party
|
— |
| 1998 | Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows: The Best of Lesley Gore
|
— |
| 2000 | 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection
|
— |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||
Singles [edit]
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
US AC [12] |
US R&B [12] |
UK [13] |
|||
| 1963 | "It's My Party" | 1 | — | 1 | 9 | I'll Cry If I Want to |
| "Judy's Turn to Cry" | 5 | — | 10 | — | ||
| "She's a Fool" | 5 | — | 26 | — | Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts | |
| 1964 | "You Don't Own Me" | 2 | — | — | — | |
| "I Don't Know Anymore" | — | — | — | — | non-album single | |
| "That's the Way Boys Are" | 12 | — | — | — | Boys, Boys, Boys | |
| "I Don't Wanna Be a Loser" | 37 | 12 | — | — | ||
| "Maybe I Know" | 14 | — | — | 20 | Girl Talk | |
| "Hey Now" | 76 | — | — | — | ||
| 1965 | "Look of Love" | 27 | — | — | — | |
| "All My Life" | 71 | — | — | — | The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore | |
| "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" | 13 | — | — | — | Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts | |
| "My Town, My Guy, and Me" | 32 | — | — | — | My Town, My Guy, and Me | |
| "I Won't Love You Anymore (Sorry)" | 80 | — | — | — | Lesley Gore Sings All About Love | |
| 1966 | "We Know We're in Love" | 76 | — | — | — | |
| "Young Love" | 50 | — | — | — | ||
| "Off and Running" | 108 | — | — | — | California Nights | |
| "Treat Me Like a Lady" | 115 | — | — | — | ||
| 1967 | "California Nights" | 16 | — | — | — | |
| "Summer and Sandy" | 65 | — | — | — | Lesley Gore Golden Hits, Vol. 2[11] | |
| "Brink of Disaster" | 82 | — | — | — | Magic Colors (unreleased) | |
| "Magic Colors" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968 | "Small Talk" | 124 | — | — | — | non-album single |
| "He Gives Me Love (La, La, La)" | 119 | — | — | — | Lesley Gore Golden Hits, Vol. 2[11] | |
| "I Can't Make It Without You" | 124 | — | — | — | ||
| "I'll Be Standing By" | — | — | — | — | non-album singles | |
| 1969 | "Take Good Care (Of My Heart)" | — | — | — | — | |
| "98.6-Lazy Day" | — | 36 | — | — | ||
| "Wedding Bell Blues" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970 | "Why Doesn't Love Make Me Happy" | — | 39 | — | — | |
| "Come Softly to Me" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "When Yesterday Was Tomorrow" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971 | "Back Together" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1972 | "She Said That" | — | — | — | — | Someplace Else Now |
| 1975 | "Immortality" | — | — | — | — | Love Me by Name |
| "Sometimes" (with The Brothers Johnson) | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
B-sides [edit]
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | A-side |
|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
|||
| 1964 | "Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy" | 86 | "Hey Now" |
Television appearances [edit]
- The Ed Sullivan Show (Four appearances)
- American Bandstand
- The Mike Douglas Show
- The Andy Williams Show
- Merv Griffin Show
- The Donna Reed Show (appeared as herself in the final episode of the series on 3/19/66, performing "It's My Party" and "We Know We're In Love")
- Batman (starring as "Pussycat") – her hit "California Nights" was introduced on this show, in the episode "That Darn Catwoman."[5]
- Club 1270, 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 Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
- Shindig!
- Hullabaloo
- What's My Line?
- Days of our Lives
- Sha Na Na
- All My Children
- Murphy Brown
- Hollywood Squares
- Dinah Shore
- The Midnight Special
- In The Life (PBS)
- A Capitol Fourth
- Gay USA
- The T.A.M.I. Show (feature film, 1964)
References [edit]
- ^ http://www.biography.com/people/lesley-gore-16606845
- ^ Fine, Arlene. "It’s Lesley Gore’s party at Cain Park", Cleveland Jewish News, July 31, 2008. Accessed September 18, 2011."
- ^ Retro, Ricky. "It's her party, and it's Spector's turn to cry", The Star-Ledger, May 24, 2004.
- ^ a b Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 159. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ a b c Hoekstra, Dave. "Our favorite Lesley Gore moments", Chicago Sun-Times, March 11, 2007. Accessed May 31, 2007.[dead link]
- ^ Patricia E. Davis, "Lesley Core In Comeback With Her College Degree", Pittsburgh Press, June 6, 1969.
- ^ Jon Bream, "It's Lesley Gore's party", Star Tribune, January 10, 2010.
- ^ Jones, Chad. "It's still her party, and Lesley Gore's not crying", Oakland Tribune, April 21, 2006. Accessed May 31, 2007.[dead link]
- ^ a b c afterellen.com - Interview with Lesley Gore Retrieved 25 February 2013
- ^ a b "Billboard chart positions > albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ^ a b c [1][dead link]
- ^ a b c d "Billboard chart positions > singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ^ "UK Singles Chart Run – Lesley Gore". Polyhex. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
External links [edit]
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- 1946 births
- American child singers
- American female singers
- American people of Jewish descent
- American pop singers
- Lesbian feminists
- Lesbian musicians
- LGBT musicians from the United States
- Living people
- Mercury Records artists
- Musicians from New Jersey
- Singers from New York City
- People from Tenafly, New Jersey
- Sarah Lawrence College alumni
