Lesley Gore: May 2, 1946 - February 16, 2015
Lesley Gore, 1960s Pop Icon, Dead at 68
NEW YORK, NY, February 16, 2015 -- Lesley Gore, who shot to fame in 1963 at age 16 with the classic pop song, “It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry if I Want To”) and made the pre-women’s movement song “You Don’t Own Me,” a feminist anthem for many, passed away today at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. The cause was lung cancer. Gore, who was a non-smoker, was 68.
Born on May 2, 1946 in Brooklyn, Gore grew up in suburban Tenafly, New Jersey. While still in high school, she was discovered by a young jazz producer, Quincy Jones, who recorded her first hit song and album, “I’ll Cry If I Want To.” Other hits soon followed including “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” the Marvin Hamlisch-penned “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” “That’s The Way Boys Are,” and “Maybe I Know,” among others. One of the most popular and commercially successful singers of the era, Gore headlined The Ed Sullivan Show and appeared on Batman as Pink Pussycat, one of Catwoman’s assistants.
After high school, Gore left the music business to attend Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, graduating with a degree in English/American Literature in 1968. When she returned to the business, she focused on songwriting.
Gore earned an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the hit song, “Out Here on My Own,” sung by Irene Cara in the film, “Fame,” which Gore’s brother, Michael, scored.
In 2005, she released the critically acclaimed album, “Ever Since.” At that time, she officially came out to the public when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series, In The Life, which dealt with gay and lesbian issues.
Throughout her career, Gore toured extensively. In the last few years, she performed at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency in New York and, along with Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks, headlined the “She’s Got the Power” concert outdoors at Lincoln Center in 2011.
During the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign, with Gore’s full support, “You Don’t Own Me” became a rallying cry for a group of young female luminaries and activists demanding reproductive rights from their political leaders. With Gore introducing a PSA YouTube video version of the song by announcing “I approve this message,” actresses Lena Dunham, Carrie Brownstein and Natasha Lyonne, actress and teenage fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson and filmmaker Sarah Sophie Flicker joined others to lip sync the song as a pointed message to certain members of the GOP.
A compassionate New Yorker, Gore was committed to Health People, a South Bronx community health initiative serving AIDS patients and other ill people and their families, and particularly to the children of Health People’s Kids-Helping-Kids program. In 2012, she brought them into Nola, the storied 57th Street studio to record their iTunes song, “Pull Your Pants Up.” She then enlisted her friend, Broadway choreographer and director, Joey McKneely, to help turn the song into a YouTube video starring the kids and her.
At the time of her death, Gore was working on a memoir and, along with playwright Mark Hampton, a Broadway play based on her life.
She is survived by her partner of 33 years, jewelry designer, Lois Sasson of New York City; her beloved dog, Billie; her mother, Ronny, of Palm Beach, Florida; and her brother, Michael, of Pound Ridge, New York.
Gore resided on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
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NOTE: A private service for family will be held Frank E. Campbell, 1076 Madison Avenue, on Thursday, February 19 at 3:30 p.m. A public memorial service will be announced at a later date.
NEW YORK, NY, February 16, 2015 -- Lesley Gore, who shot to fame in 1963 at age 16 with the classic pop song, “It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry if I Want To”) and made the pre-women’s movement song “You Don’t Own Me,” a feminist anthem for many, passed away today at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City. The cause was lung cancer. Gore, who was a non-smoker, was 68.
Born on May 2, 1946 in Brooklyn, Gore grew up in suburban Tenafly, New Jersey. While still in high school, she was discovered by a young jazz producer, Quincy Jones, who recorded her first hit song and album, “I’ll Cry If I Want To.” Other hits soon followed including “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” the Marvin Hamlisch-penned “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” “That’s The Way Boys Are,” and “Maybe I Know,” among others. One of the most popular and commercially successful singers of the era, Gore headlined The Ed Sullivan Show and appeared on Batman as Pink Pussycat, one of Catwoman’s assistants.
After high school, Gore left the music business to attend Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, graduating with a degree in English/American Literature in 1968. When she returned to the business, she focused on songwriting.
Gore earned an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the hit song, “Out Here on My Own,” sung by Irene Cara in the film, “Fame,” which Gore’s brother, Michael, scored.
In 2005, she released the critically acclaimed album, “Ever Since.” At that time, she officially came out to the public when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series, In The Life, which dealt with gay and lesbian issues.
Throughout her career, Gore toured extensively. In the last few years, she performed at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency in New York and, along with Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks, headlined the “She’s Got the Power” concert outdoors at Lincoln Center in 2011.
During the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign, with Gore’s full support, “You Don’t Own Me” became a rallying cry for a group of young female luminaries and activists demanding reproductive rights from their political leaders. With Gore introducing a PSA YouTube video version of the song by announcing “I approve this message,” actresses Lena Dunham, Carrie Brownstein and Natasha Lyonne, actress and teenage fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson and filmmaker Sarah Sophie Flicker joined others to lip sync the song as a pointed message to certain members of the GOP.
A compassionate New Yorker, Gore was committed to Health People, a South Bronx community health initiative serving AIDS patients and other ill people and their families, and particularly to the children of Health People’s Kids-Helping-Kids program. In 2012, she brought them into Nola, the storied 57th Street studio to record their iTunes song, “Pull Your Pants Up.” She then enlisted her friend, Broadway choreographer and director, Joey McKneely, to help turn the song into a YouTube video starring the kids and her.
At the time of her death, Gore was working on a memoir and, along with playwright Mark Hampton, a Broadway play based on her life.
She is survived by her partner of 33 years, jewelry designer, Lois Sasson of New York City; her beloved dog, Billie; her mother, Ronny, of Palm Beach, Florida; and her brother, Michael, of Pound Ridge, New York.
Gore resided on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
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NOTE: A private service for family will be held Frank E. Campbell, 1076 Madison Avenue, on Thursday, February 19 at 3:30 p.m. A public memorial service will be announced at a later date.