NEW YORK (AP) – Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic song of teenage angst, It’ My Party, and followed it up with the hits Judy’s Turn to Cry, and the feminist anthem You Don’t Own Me, died Monday. She was 68.
Gore, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, according to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.
“She was a wonderful human being – caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian,” Sasson, a jewellery designer, told The Associated Press.
Brooklyn-born and New Jersey-raised, Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones as a teenager and signed to Mercury Records. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in English/American literature.
Gore’s other hits include She’s A Fool, Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, which Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote, That’s the Way Boys Are and Maybe I Know. She co-wrote with her brother, Michael, the Academy Award-nominated Out Here On My Own from the film Fame.
She sang at the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show in Santa Monica, California, alongside future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like the James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Gore also played Catwoman’s sidekick in the cult TV comedy Batman.
“She was a serious artist that was way ahead of her time,” said Ronnie Spector in a statement.
“She had a certain sound. But you want to be able to do new things too, and it can be hard on an artist that is so identified with a specific sound. Although she wasn’t in a girl group, Lesley was definitely a huge part of that era. But she continued to be creative, and kept looking ahead, and that’s how I will remember her.”
