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Lesley Gore
Birth name	Lesley Sue Goldstein
Also known as	Lesley Gore
Born	May 2, 1946 (1946-05-02) (age 61)
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Voice type(s)	Alto[citation needed]
Years active	1963– present
Associated acts	Sue Thompson, Brenda Lee
Website	lesleygore.com

Lesley Gore (born May 2, 1946 in New York City as 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 1963-1967.

Contents 1 Career: 1960s and 1970s 2 Return to recording in 2005 3 Sexual orientation 4 Discography 4.1 Singles 4.2 Selected albums 5 Television appearances 6 References 7 External links

Gore was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey in a Jewish family. She was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood when "It's My Party" became a #1 hit.^[1]

Her first hit was followed by many others, 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", "That's The Way Boys Are", "Maybe I Know", "The Look Of Love" and "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows". Her record producer was Quincy Jones, who would later become one of the most famous producers in American music.

Instead of accepting the television and movie contracts that came her way, Gore chose to attend Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, 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 her then-producer Shelby Singleton refused to let her 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.^[2] Gore also released "Wedding Bell Blues" as a single in 1969, but her version flopped, while the Fifth Dimension's spent three weeks at #1.

By the late 1960s, her popularity had decreased with the advent of harder-edged psychedelic music. Her last major hit was the Bob Crewe-produced "California Nights," which she performed on the January 19, 1967, episode of the Batman TV series, in which she guest-starred as Pink Pussycat, one of Catwoman's minions.^[2] Afterwards, she maintained a lower profile in the music industry, performing at concerts and in cabarets. She also kept busy writing songs, including composing 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.^[3] The song was a Top 20 hit for Irene Cara.^{[citation needed]}

Gore played concerts and appeared on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 2005, she recorded her first album of new material since 1976 (Love Me By Name) — Ever Since — with producer/songwriter Blake Morgan for Engine Company Records (a small independent label). 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 a film: "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.

Gore announced in 2005 that she is a lesbian.^[4] She stated further that she did not know her own orientation until she was in her twenties, and after she discovered that she was a lesbian, she never gave much thought to exposing it publicly, but at the same time she took no great lengths to hide it.

Some commentators consider the lyric content of some albums, notably Someplace Else Now, to contain implicit references to Gore's sexuality. Her altering of known song lyrics was also thought to have implied her orientation as in her album The Canvas Can Do Miracles. On that album she covered the Grease song "You're the One That I Want", altering the line "cause I need a man" to "cause I need a friend".

Gore provided musical aid for the 1996 film Grace of My Heart, which featured a character (played by Bridget Fonda) whose struggles over her sexual orientation were similar to Gore's. Beginning in 2004, Gore could be seen hosting the PBS television series, In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues. Gore currently lives with her partner of over 23 years.

Year	Single	US Pop Singles	Album
1963	"It's My Party"	1	I'll Cry if I Want To
1963	"Judy's Turn to Cry"	5	I'll Cry if I Want To
1963	"She's a Fool"	5	Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts
1964	"You Don't Own Me"	2	Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts
1964	"That's the Way Boys Are"	12	Boys, Boys, Boys
1964	"I Don't Wanna Be a Loser"	37	Boys, Boys, Boys
1964	"Maybe I Know"	14	Girl Talk
1964	"Hey Now"	76	Girl Talk
1964	"Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy"	86	Girl Talk
1965	"Look of Love"	27	Girl Talk
1965	"All Of My Life"	71	The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore
1965	"Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows"	13	Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts
1965	"My Town, My Guy & Me"	32	My Town, My Guy & Me
1965	"I Won't Love You Anymore (Sorry)"	80	Lesley Gore Sings All About Love
1966	"We Know We're In Love"	76	Lesley Gore Sings All About Love
1966	"Young Love"	50	Lesley Gore Sings All About Love
1967	"California Nights"	16	California Nights
1967	"Summer and Sandy"	65	Golden Hits Volume 2
1967	"Brink of Disaster"	82	Golden Hits Volume 2

Year	Album	US Peak
1963	I'll Cry If I Want To	24
1963	Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts	125
1964	Boys, Boys, Boys	127
1964	Girl Talk	146
1965	My Town, My Guy & Me	120
1965	The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore	95
1966	Lesley Gore Sings All About Love	Did not chart
1967	California Nights	169
1968	Magic Colors (cancelled)	n/a
1968	Golden Hits Volume 2	Did not chart
1972	Someplace Else Now	Did not chart
1975	Love Me By Name	Did not chart
1982	The Canvas Can Do Miracles	Did not chart
2005	Ever Since	Did not chart

• Ed Sullivan Show
• American Bandstand
• The Mike Douglas Show
• The Andy Williams Show
• Merv Griffin Show
• The Donna Reed Show (appeared in the final episode of the series on 3/19/66)
• Batman (starring as "Pink Pussycat") - her hit "California Nights" was introduced on this show, in the episode "That Darn Catwoman."^[2]
• 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
• Murphy Brown
• Hollywood Squares
• Dinah Shore
• The Midnight Special
• In The Life (PBS)
• A Capitol Fourth
• Gay USA

• Lesley Gore Official Site
• International Fan Club site
• Lesley Gore's career on A&M Records with gallery, international discography
• 2005 interview
• EVER SINCE 2005 CD
• Lesley's Artistlaunch Page
• "The Work of Claus Ogerman" - Lesley Gore's work during 1963-1965 with hit arranger/conductor Claus Ogerman is documented here in a pictorial discography of original albums, compilations, and singles - many with original album liner note scans.