Long before Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Britney Spears and even Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, a landmark single by a teenage girl singer was recorded on this day (March 30) in 1963. Her name was Lesley Gore and the hit song was "It's My Party."
Born Lesley Sue Goldstein on May 2, 1946, the family shortened their last name to Gore shortly after she was born. She was discovered after her uncle passed a recording of her singing to the president of Mercury Records, who subsequently forwarded the tape to a young producer named Quincy Jones, who would go onto greater fame as an artist, arranger and producer of Michal Jackson's Thriller, the all-star single "We Are the World," and dozens of more hits.
Although Gore didn't write the song, she did a convincing job bringing the drama of a teenage girl lamenting her boyfriend leaving her party holding another girl's hand.
The lyrics were written by Seymour Gottlieb, based on his daughter Judy's sweet 16 party. She was reportedly upset because her grandparents were invited to her party.
At least a few other singers were interested in releasing their versions of the song, but Gore and Jones beat them to the punch. Among the rival versions was one recorded by The Crystals, produced by Phil Spector. Legend has it, Jones and Spector both turned up at Carnegie Hall to see a performance by Charles Aznavour. In a chance meeting outside, Jones discovered that Spector had also produced a version of the song, so he left the concert and headed to the studio to cut a test pressing of the song that was promptly sent out to radio programmers.
"It's My Party" reached No. 1 just four weeks after its release, making Gore an overnight sensation.
Over the years, the song has been covered several times, including by Dave Stewart (not the Eurythmics member of the same name) and Barbara Gaskin, who had a No. 1 British hit with their version in 1981.
In 2010, Amy Winehouse recorded a cover of the song for the tribute album to Jones titled Soul Bossa Nostra.
Gore, who went on to have several other hits, including the early feminist anthem "You Don't Own Me," died in 2015 at the age of 68 from lung cancer. A decade before her death, she came out as a lesbian in an interview with the website AfterEllen. Gore revealed that she felt she had to pretend to be straight because the music business was "totally homophobic," adding, "I just kind of live my life naturally and did what I wanted to do. I didn't avoid anything, I didn't put it in anybody's face."
Jones, who is still with us, celebrated his 91st birthday on March 14.
