NEW YORK -- Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her song of teenage angst, "It's My Party," and followed it up with the hits "Judy's Turn to Cry" and the feminist anthem "You Don't Own Me," died Monday. She was 68.
Gore, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, according to her domestic partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.
Brooklyn-born and New Jersey-raised, Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones as a teenager and signed to Mercury Records. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in English/American literature.
Gore's other hits include "She's A Fool," "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," which Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote, "That's the Way Boys Are" and "Maybe I Know." She co-wrote with her brother, Michael, the Academy Award-nominated "Out Here On My Own" from the film Fame.
She sang at the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show in Santa Monica, Calif., alongside James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Gore also played Catwoman's sidekick in the cult TV comedy Batman.
In the 1990s, Gore co-wrote "My Secret Love" for Allison Anders' film Grace of My Heart, released in 1996. A couple of years later, she appeared in Smokey Joe's Cafe on Broadway. Gore had been working on a stage version of her life with playwright Mark Hampton when she died.
She officially came out to the public in the mid-2000s when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series In the Life, which dealt with gay issues.
Metro on 02/18/2015