Lesley Gore

She had a problem similar to Debbie Gibson's (although Leslie was infinitely more talented as a singer): she had made a big name for herself as a good little girl, and then when she grew up no one wanted that anymore.

i think a bigger problem for Leslie, though, was the British invasion. Suddenly no one was much interested anymore in the softer pop sounds of the early 60s that everyone associated her with.

She was writing songs even in her later years

Didn’t Les end up being Lez?

Pop perfection

She kept writing songs for other people, some with her brother, but she stopped performing. In later life she said she never wanted to pretend to be straight; I'm thinking that wouldn't have been possible as a performer, especially when your career is so identified with straight teenage girl trouble. British invasion was a problem, yeah, but she was still charting in 1967, and she was so talented.

She also was pretty lucky. Her early songs were produced by Quincy Jones, of all people. Her father knew people in the record business and that's how she got connected to Quincy.

Did she have the only hit record (It's My Party) to have a sequel (Judy's Turn To Cry), where she got her revenge on that man-stealing bitch Judy?

Pussycat to the Catwoman. Even in the mid 60s people could crack that code.

Answer songs like that were briefly very popular.

She was a big ol pussy lickin lez

[quote] I can't think of another white girl from the burbs who had a comparable rock'n'roll singing career.

Ahem.

Stop calling Jews white, you racist fuck hole.

I have a weird mis-memory with Lesley. Around Spring 1996, People Magazine had an issue of Where Are They Now, focusing on ‘60s singers. The dj on the radio was talking about it & raving how great Lesley looked at the time, she attributed it to Lesley being married to a famous plastic surgeon. I guess she could’ve misheard but I swear she was talking about Lesley, which is why I paused while changing stations.

Lesley was my original diva. I started buying records as a pre-teen after hearing "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry." My parents bought me my first stereo for Christmas in 1963, partly because my mother couldn't stand the way I'd put a 45 on my 45-only player and put it on repeat. It came to a head Assassination Weekend when I played the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" one more time than she could deal with.

They bought me two albums each by Lesley Gore and the Beach Boys, including the one with "She's a Fool," which I assumed was about Johnny and Judy, though she didn't name the fool of whom she sang.

This was instructive as I was becoming a teen.

R2 when I saw Grace of my Heart, I thought omg, poor Lesley should sue, they made her look like a lesbian when clearly she’s not! I didn’t know she was involved with the movie BTS.

My all time favorite song. I love how she kinda sings against the beat.

Speaking of Grace of My Heart, here are Illeana Douglas as faux Carole King and Matt Dillon as faux Brian Wilson. As bad as that may sound, it was actually a pretty terrific movie featuring two of my favorite actors as fictitious versions of two of my favorite music makers.

[quote] I'd put a 45 on my 45-only player and put it on repeat

Lol Every kid did that back then.

She wrote the beautiful "Out Here on My Own", which Irene Cara sang in the movie 'Fame", with her brother.

Saw this on datalounge awhile back. 🤣🤣🤣

Connie Francis. Not from the burbs and not rock'n'roll.

Sez who?

Yeah. Connie was quite the rocker. Please.

@r15, Better cover for "That's the Way Boys Are"...

I always found Lesley to be a little too peppy.

[quote] Connie Francis. Not from the burbs and not rock'n'roll.

Yes, she was and yes, she was.

And she befriended Lesley.

It's very interesting that she's not wearing a bikini, but a mannish shirt and shorts. She is not there for male consumption and the other women are clearly not her buddies. They're the same girls who would throng around Elvis in a TV number. She was telling us who she was but we weren't spotting the cues.

I think she has far more integrity than Laura Nyro, with her "Marry me, Bill, and I'll be here waiting for you although you'll never settle down because men gotta ramble" songs. Laura was too weird to be sexual--she looked like a bag lady--and she had an exquisite voice and haunting melodies but the narratives in her early work really sucked.

r12 = nutcase Att Manscher

R27 amen! She was from suburban NJ & she did plenty of rock oriented material. Along with pop, country, covers, songs in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Yiddish, you name it! I love Connie & Lesley both.

Lesley Gore had a good 5 year run in the music business which is about the norm. And she did very well for having most of her hits when she was only a teenager. Seemed level headed and nice.

I feel a who's better Sheena Easton v Leslie Gore v Tina Marie v Leslie Gore thread coming on.

r28 Laura Nyro was a musical genius. You must not be familiar with most of her early work.

R28, I agree she's a musical genius and bought all her albums and played them multiple times. But the narrative was always "I need a man but he'll never stay with me and I shouldn't expect him to." Maybe she honestly believed that and adhered to that school of thinking when she was married. It was about as enlightened as country and western music of the same era., I can understand you saying "But who cares? She was a genius." I disagree and there's a reason no sings "Wedding Bell Blues" or "He's a Runner" today.

I always interpreted He's A Runner about a gay man. Nyro had plenty of songs that weren't about men who won't stay.

Lesley Gore was known as Queen Of The Teen Weepers because she was always having trouble with her boyfriends - while in real life she liked girls. The image and the reality.

Maybe she was really crying at her party because she secretly wanted Judy and was jealous Johnny got to her first.

She wanted to eat Judy's pussy

R38 And finger her.

Lesley Gore was WAY before my time, but You Don't Own me is a pretty good song. Its message was quite revolutionary for the times.

She was an icon, at least to me. Lung cancer sucks.

I think lots of Nyro's songs would work well if sung by men to men. The lyric "women ain't been born who can make him stay; women, get away if you can," works perfectly and is no longer sexist. Instead of "He's a Runner," it could be called "He's Gay, Rose ; Buy a Clue."

Nyro (birth name Nigro!) had ovarian cancer like her mother who died at the same age, 46. She must have had the Angelina Jolie gene the ladies talk about.

I met Lesley Gore after a show a few years before she died. Extremely nice,with beautiful light blue eyes

I still have a lot of my old 78s from the 60s, including her "It's My Party".

r45 78s were long gone by the time Lesley Gore was on the scene.

Nyro was old enough to have had Tin Pan Alley dreams along with folky "authenticity", hence stuff like "Wedding Bell Blues". Like virtually all the singer-songwriter types, she had hits and misses. Carole King's classic "Tapestry" includes covers of songs of her made popular by others and her later albums were mixed bags. Beyond that, the niche for Holly Near came around the time that singer-songwriter-types were becoming less popular.

[quote] R45, 78s were long gone by the time Lesley Gore was on the scene.

Busted!

You're right. I should have said 45s. All my 78s are from my parent's collection.

I'm old, forgive me for my error.

^Lol, My record player wouldn't even play 78s, but man they made great frisbees

You could kill someone if you threw a 78 as a frisbee.

^ Oh, yes. No need to guess what movie was really popular at the time

So, her big hits were It's My Party, She's A Fool, Judy's Turn To Cry, Maybe I Know, You Don't Own Me, Sunshine and Lollipops, and That's The Way Boys Are. Were there any others?

r53, on the Girl Talk album, "Moving Away" and "The Old Crowd" are excellent songs. I don't know if they were singles. They were probably intended to be, but then came the British Invasion.

Yep, that's it, R53. That's why she's not even on Billboard's top female singers list, while I'm still in top 12.

At #12, bitch! The way my holiday classic Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree rushes to the #2 spot every year I'll soon leave you in my rock & roll dust, Miss Connie.

My boy Lollypop. You make my heart go pitter pat.

You Don’t Own Me was groundbreaking. By far her best song. Grace did an exceptional cover a couple of years back.

R29 = racist piece of shit blaming Jews for yt racism.

Add to the list "California Nights" and "The Look of Love" (not the Bacharach song).

[quote]My boy Lollypop. You make my heart go pitter pat.

No, dear.

You make my heart go GIDDY-UP.

And it was by Millie Small, not Lesley.

R61 I stand corrected. Thanks for setting me straight.

R62. Maybe you’re thinking of Dunshine, Lollipops, and Rainboys” (written by Marvin Hamlisch, of all people!)

Millie Small was Carole King's babysitter. For a long time I thought that was Carole herself singing on the record, maybe letting Millie play star instead of paying her.

It does sound like Carole.

No, not Millie Small. The babysitter was Little Eva. Loco-motion.

Correct sir, ma'am, or xie. My mistake.

Where is Dusty on that list????

I love Grace of My Heart and Bridget Fonda is terrific as a thinly disguised Gore.

It's my orgy I'll dyke out if I want to

Eat snatch if I want to

Lez out if I want to

You'd do so too if you were a gay Jew!

You would cry too if it happened to you!

How were they two openly lesbian pop stars in the sixties (Lesley and Dusty) and today there isn't even one?

Not one of Leslie's hits, but I enjoy it for its prescience.

I don’t have many early/mid 60s songs in my oldies playlist except her hits and “Walk Like a Man”. She seemed like a nice person too.

I wonder if ole Lesley got really wet and lustful for julie newmar in her spray painted on catwoman outfit on that episode of "batman"?!....

Datalounge is the only place on the planet that still talks about Connie Francis.

Yup....and Quincy Jones always dismisses his recordings with Lesley Gore as if they were beneath his talent. He was lucky to have a chance to work with her. She was on the Mercury label.....and her stereo LPs had great sound! Thanks, Quincy. I keep listening to "Maybe I Know" and it's almost like Michael Jackson was channeling Lesley is some of his vocals. And I love how the song starts - BANG - no band intro no downbeat......GO!

Lesley Gore? More like Lesley WHORE!

Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows was co-written by Marvin Hamlisch.

R78 That must be why it's such a rocker.

R75 Absolutely not true!

I knew Lesley and Lois. Very involved members of the gay community. They were very close to Marty Richards, the Producer of Chicago who was gay but married a Johnson of Johnson & Johnson.

The song actually captured the California vibe 1966. I was 11......

I always thought she looked like a movie actress in a drama or thriller of the 1960s.

sorry out in int the signature by mistake

r69

Dusty and Lesley fan fiction!

You Don't Own Me...Judy! 🖕

Leslie at Catwoman's "Robin" on Batman singing California Nights with other footage added in.

You Dont Own Me is one of my favorite songs,but Out Here On My Own is absolutely in my top 10 . I was thrilled when I discovered Leslie helped write it.If I remember correctly,didnt she have hardly any money when she died?

[quote] She kept writing songs for other people, some with her brother.

Paul Simon had a hit thanks to us.

Lesley was fine with money. She had more FU money than Annette or Connie.