Lesley Gore

Gore was sixteen when she cut 'It's My Party,' and the wild thing is that her best record might be the one she made next: 'You Don't Own Me,' a defiant kiss-off that sounds decades ahead of 1963. She was a teen idol who quietly refused to be anyone's product, both in that lyric and in how she lived. Coming out publicly later in life and championing LGBTQ causes gave her catalog a second emotional dimension. The Quincy Jones partnership produced some of the era's sharpest pop, and I think she's still underrated as an interpreter. That posthumous New Jersey Hall of Fame nod was overdue recognition.

Lesley Gore (May 2, 1946 - February 16, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in Brooklyn, New York. She became a teenage pop star in 1963 with the chart-topping hit 'It's My Party,' produced by Quincy Jones, followed by songs such as 'Judy's Turn to Cry' and the feminist anthem 'You Don't Own Me.' She later became an LGBTQ activist and was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2024. Gore died in 2015 at the age of 68.

Name (English)

Lesley Gore

Name (Japanese)

レスリー・ゴーア

Reading

れすりー・ごーあ

Born

May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Dog

Origin

Brooklyn, New York, United States

Occupation

Singer-songwriter / Singer / Actor / Recording artist / Musician

University

Sarah Lawrence College

Awards & achievements

• 2024 New Jersey Hall of Fame

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B4%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A2

Tags

• From New York
• Singer-songwriter
• Singer
• Actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.