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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZGORE, Lesley(b Lesley Sue Goldstein, 2 May 1946, Tenafly NJ; d 16 January 2015 in Manhattan of lung cancer) Singer. Wanting to be a singer from an early age, she was discovered by Quincy Jones while still in high school; her first release on Mercury was 'It's My Party', a no. 1 hit in the USA '63, top ten UK; 'Judy's Turn To Cry', 'She's A Fool', 'You Don't Own Me' followed, all top five the same year. 'You Don't Own Me', written by John Madara and David White, reached no. 2 in the USA and became an anthem covered by people like Dusty Springfield and Joan Jett, and was revived in the 1996 movie The First Wives Club. Talking about the song in 2010 to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune she said, 'I don't care what age you are -- 16 or 116 -- there's nothing more wonderful than standing on the stage and shaking your finger and singing "Don't tell me what to do".' She had fifteen more Hot 100 entries '64-7, four in top 20: 'That's The Way Boys Are' and 'Maybe I Know' '64, 'Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows' '65, 'California Nights' '67 (the last two among the first Marvin Hamlisch songs to be recorded). Meanwhile she stayed in school, performing on weekends and graduating from Sarah Lawrence '68. She left Mercury, Jones and the charts; signed with Bob Crewe, then Mowest (Motown) '71, began writing her own material and carried on as a writer: the songs on her album Someplace Else Now '72 she wrote or co-wrote with Ellen Weston. She reunited with Jones for Love Me By Name '75 (her own songs). With her brother Michael she wrote songs for the film Fame '80, and one of them, 'Out Here On My Own', was a hit for Irene Cara and nominated for an Oscar. The Canvas Can Do Miracles '82 was an album of covers of '70s pop hits. She often toured with Lou Christie in the '80s and there was a duet single medley of '50s hits 'Since I Don't Have You'/'It's Only Make Believe' mid-'86. She had relocated to California in 1970 and returned to New York in 1980. She appeared briefly onstage in Smokey Joe's Cafe in the late '90s (a revue compiling songs of Leiber & Stoller). Her TV work included a bit in TV's Batman in the 1960s as the Pink Pussycat. She hosted episodes of In The Life, a PBS series about LGBT people, and came out as gay in 2005, the year of her album Ever Since. |