‘It’s My Party’ singer-songwriter Lesley Gore dies at 68

Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic 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 died of lung cancer at New York University Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, according to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.

"She was a wonderful human being — caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian," Sasson, a jewelry designer, told The Associated Press.

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 teen hits — all written by others — include "She's a Fool," ''Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," ''That's the Way Boys Are" and "Maybe I Know." She co-wrote with her brother, Michael Gore, the Academy Award-nominated "Out Here on My Own" from the film "Fame."

Lesley Gore sang at the 1964 TAMI Show in Santa Monica, California, alongside future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like the James Brown and the Rolling Stones. She also played Catwoman's sidekick in the cult TV comedy "Batman."

In the 1990s, she co-wrote "My Secret Love" for the Allison Anders film "Grace of My Heart," released in 1996. Several years later, Gore appeared in "Smokey Joe's Cafe" on Broadway. She had been working on a stage version of her life with playwright Mark Hampton when she died.

In 2005 she released "Ever Since," her first album in 30 years, but she was sure to revisit older hits in front of fans. "If I've learned anything in this business," she told The New York Times that year, "how stupid would it be not to do 'It's My Party' when people come to hear it?"

According to Gore's obituary in the Times, some tracks from "Ever Since" were used on the television shows “CSI” and “The L Word.”

She officially came out to the public when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series "In The Life" which dealt with gay and lesbian issues, but she resisted "reinterpreting her songs along the lines of sexual orientation," she told the Times. Of "You Don't Own Me," the newspaper quoted her as saying, "When I heard that song at the age of 17, it felt like a humanist song to me. I could see a guy singing that to a young woman as easily as I could see a young woman singing it to her boyfriend or her father."

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Gore turned "You Don't Own Me" into an online video public service announcement demanding reproductive rights which starred Lena Dunham and Tavi Gevinson, among others.

In the last few years, she performed at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency in New York and, along with Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks, headlined the "She's Got the Power" concert outdoors at Lincoln Center in 2012.

In addition to Sasson, Gore is survived by her brother and mother, Ronny Gore. Services will be held on Thursday in New York.

The Associated Press