American singer, songwriter, actress and activist, Lesley Gore, died of lung cancer aged 68 on this day in 2015.
She is best known for the 1963 No.1 single 'It's My Party' which was produced by Quincy Jones.
Gore composed songs for the soundtrack of the 1980 film Fame, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for ‘Out Here on My Own’, written with her brother Michael.
Gore's biggest hit lyrically portrays the discomfiture of a teenage girl at her birthday party when her boyfriend Johnny disappears, only to surface in the company of Judy, another girl, who is "wearing his ring," to indicate she's replaced the birthday girl as his love interest.
The song's chorus, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to... You would cry too if it happened to you!" became a part of American pop cultural language as a phrase used to describe being utterly humiliated and miserable during an event that is supposed to be a happy occasion.
Allmusic critic Jason Ankeny wrote of the song, "'It's My Party' remains one of the most vivid evocations of adolescent heartbreak ever waxed—Quincy Jones produced the record, although you'd swear it was Aaron Spelling instead."
"It's My Party" was credited to John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner, staff writers at the Aaron Schroeder Music firm in 1962. The lyrics were actually written by Seymour Gottlieb, a freelance songwriter.
He gave the lyrics to Herb Weiner, with whom he partnered in writing songs, to peddle. It was based on actual events relating to Gottlieb's daughter Judy's ‘Sweet 16’ party, before which she cried over the prospect of her grandparents being invited.
The demo for the song was cut by Barbara Jean English, a girl group veteran (the Clickettes, the Fashions), who was then working as a receptionist at the firm. She also worked with Jimmy Radcliffe, serving as the firm's in-house demo singer. Radcliffe produced the demo, and, according to English, "tried to persuade Musicor [the label owned by Aaron Schroeder] to release it as a record, or to take me into a master studio and redo it, but they weren't interested."
The first recording of the song was in 1962 by The Chiffons for their One Fine Day album. It was also recorded by Helen Shapiro for her Helen in Nashville album in February 1963 with Shapiro's regular producer, Norrie Paramor, and also Al Kasha.
Shapiro would recall: "Right from the first time we heard the song on the rough demo back in London, we thought we were going to sock them between the eyes with that one"; however, Shapiro's version was not one of the cuts chosen as an advance single from the album and by the time of the album's release that October the "It's My Party" track was perceived as a cover of Lesley Gore's hit.
Lesley Gore recalls that "It's My Party" was among some two hundred demos producer Quincy Jones brought to review with her in the den of her family home in February 1963. On hearing "It's My Party," Gore told Jones: "That's not half bad. I like it. Good melody. Let's put it on the maybe pile."
The song proved to be the only demo Gore and Jones found agreeable. With Jones producing and Claus Ogerman handling arranging and conducting duties, Gore recorded 'It's My Party' at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan on March 30, 1963.
In March 1963 Phil Spector heard the demo of "It's My Party" while visiting Aaron Schroeder's office. Wally Gold would recall: "He [Spector] said, 'Great, I love it. I’m gonna do it with the Crystals.' We [the song's writers] were really excited, because that would ensure that the record was #1!"
Schroeder apparently only learned of the Lesley Gore recording of "It's My Party" when Quincy Jones invited him to hear the completed track, which Schroeder found formulaic; believing that Spector would be able to cut a much stronger version of the song with the Crystals and not wanting to lose Spector's good will, Schroeder attempted to convince Jones to suppress the track.
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Schroeder did not mention Spector's version to Jones but Jones and Spector both happened to attend a concert with Charles Aznavour at Carnegie Hall on the evening of March 30, 1963 and when they met outside it came up in conversation that Spector had recorded a version of "It's My Party" with the Crystals.[note
Jones skipped the concert instead spending that night—a Saturday—at Bell Sound Studios making a test pressing of the track comprising one hundred copies.
Over the next two days Jones mailed these out to radio programmers in key markets across the US. Gore heard her record played on the radio for the first time that Friday; the official release of "It's My Party" came later in the month, with the disc ascending to number one nationally in four weeks.
Jones was abroad at the time of "It's My Party"'s release. On his return he expressed dismay when Aaron Schroeder advised him that the rush release of "It's My Party" had precluded coining a more pleasant name for the singer than "Lesley Gore," to which Schroeder replied: "Didn't anybody tell you?...Quince, the record's number one.
Do you really give a damn what her last name is?"
