Was lesley gore gay
The Brill Building, just north of Times Square in Manhattan, is famed for being the place where some of the most beloved songs in American pop music were written. Once considered the home of the American harmony industry in the early ‘60s, this place introduced us to the most famous songwriters and artists who are world known to this day. Among those include Paul Simon, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, and Phil Spector.
Another label that deserves to be mentioned and known to this day is Lesley Gore.
I was raised on the tune of Lesley Gore by my mother, who herself was on the grasp of maturity when Gore’s songs were on the Billboard charts. The songs my mother once used as a coping mechanism as a teen became the same for me. It offered me a closeness to my mother but also a great sense into just what the world once was.
Born Lesley Sue Goldstein, though her family changed their surname to Gore soon after her birth, she grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn with dreams of being a singer. Her chance was presented when, while a junior in high school, her vocal coach recorded a demo featuring her vocals and a piano. This tape fell into the hands of producer Quincy Jones, who was worki
Published in:March-April 2016 issue.
You Don’t Own Me
by Trevor Tolliver
Backbeat Books. 209 pages, $24.99
BORN JUST AFTER World War II, the tardy Lesley Gore (1946–2015) was, according to her parents, a musical prodigy. They claimed that she could vocally “duplicate the melody of a song” at the age of six months. As a toddler, she loved to execute for her parents’ guests. In recounting those anecdotes and others that track, Tolliver seems as proud as any parent or uncle. This can sometimes lead to a somewhat uncomfortable tone of familiarity, but otherwise the composer does a decent job recounting Gore’s career trajectory—and what an astounding career it was, especially from the point-of-view of today.
Lesley Gore was born in Brooklyn into an upwardly mobile Jewish family, which soon moved to Tenafly, New Jersey, where she attended tall school at the Dwight School for Girls. In middle school she had joined a young woman group; by lofty school, where she sang in the chorus, her talent as a singer was apparent. She begged her parents for a vocal coach. They hired one, and he was impressed enough to take Gore to a harmony studio, where she recorded a petite number of son
Over the years, Gore’s music became synonymous with female solidarity. At the tail end of 1995’s The First Wives Club, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, and Goldie Hawn reprise “You Don’t Have Me.” Dressed in white suits, they sway their bodies and swing their limbs like members of an aged girl band. While the film’s premise centers around their characters getting financial and amorous revenge on their duplicitous ex-husbands, all action is driven by their strong bond as friends, as women. With a little help from Lesley, their camaraderie receives the last word.
In 2012, Lesley lent the same song to a reproductive justice PSA featuring dozens of female creatives, many of whom have been active in projects that celebrated community among women, among them Tavi Gevinson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Natasha Lyonne.
Around that same time, Lesley also had a role in my own closest friendship. If I scroll back far enough on Instagram, I can find the short videos of my college best friend and me, lying on my bedroom floor, smoking and belting the lyrics to “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” in each other’s faces. I keep in mind us being saddened by our university town and the endless cycle of Confe
Lesley Gore
(1946-2015)
Who Was Lesley Gore?
Lesley Gore's first and most popular hit, 1963's "It's My Party," remains her calling card today. Her voice became the quintessential sound for youthful longing, and she recorded several other hits throughout the 1960s, including "Look of Love," "Maybe I Know" and "You Don't Control Me." Gore was later nominated for an Academy Award for "Out Here on My Own" for the film Fame. Gore died of lung cancer on February 16, 2015.
Early Life and First Knock Song
Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore was born Lesley Sue Goldstein on May 2, 1946, in Brooklyn, New York. Gore grew up in nearby Tenafly, New Jersey. She was only 16 years old when she was discovered by mythical music producer, Quincy Jones. Though several versions of the story of their auspicious meeting exist — one source said that they met at a party, while another claims that Jones saw Gore singing in a hotel — Gore herself remembers that it happened through a string of fortunate connections.
As Gore recalled, "The short story and the truth is that I was taking vocal lessons here in New York ... One day, instead of my lesso