Author	Topic:   Lesley Gore
Sergio	posted 10/26/07 4:47 PM       I owe this passion for girl singers to two ladies, the lovely Shelley Fabares, for being the first, the one that introduced me to the "sound". "Johnny Angel" my first 45 at age 10 melted me away and initiated what would become a lifelong passion. But it would be a year later when that passion would become cemented for good, and it was mainly due to a fabulous new singer named, Lesley Gore. When Lesley hit the scene in the spring of 1963, I was going to be all of 11 years old, and I flipped over the then 17 year old beauty with "turquoise eyes" and the immaculately hairsprayed blonde flip. With '63 summer hits like "It's My Party" (#1)and "Judy's Turn To Cry" (#5), and the fabulous flip side "Just Let Me Cry" it was for me the summer of Lesley Gore. Summer passed and "She's A Fool"(#5)followed, and this petite singer was on a roll. Again, the flip side "The Old Crowd", written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, could have been a hit as well. President Kennedy's tragic assassination that Fall, a day we all remember, brought the winds of change to all of our lives. The spirit and the styles of 1950's kind of ended in late 1963. By early 1964, new trends were emerging, The Beatles would bring forth the British Invasion and the face of Rock N'Roll would change forever. Not a bad change but it was different. Female singers found it hard to chart a song and teen idols all but disappeared, except for a few. I was amazed to see Lesley's fourth release "You Don't Own Me" (#2) fight it out with the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (#1). Of course The Beatles won, but Lesley's fight was formidable. It would become her signature song. Her magical voice had never sounded so tender, plaintive, mature and strong. Two big hits would follow in 1964, the innocent and bouncy "That's The Way Boys Are" (#12) and "Maybe I Know" (#14), the latter being a great Jeff Barry-Ellie Greenwich composition. She would cap off the year of 1964 by releasing what is perhaps my favorite Lesley Gore song of all, and that is another Barry-Greenwich composition, "The Look Of Love" (#27)- This is such a gem of a record. Lesley's phrasing on "Look of Love" captures her essence as an artist. The way she carasses those lyrics... "Look at the way he's kissing her, look at him hold her tight, I remember his warm embrace and the tender look on his face" Her inflections on the word "warm" and "tender" are just that and she conveys the message and feeling of the song in such a powerful way; bringing the listener INTO the unfolding teenage drama. (Few other young singers can do this, I've only heard it in Connie francis, Brenda Lee, Ginny Arnell, and Joanie Sommers.) The song works lyrically, but it also has a delightful and irresistable melody. It is the combination of the two that makes this record such a winning song. It was a vastly underrated hit for Lesley only reaching #27. It should have gone higher. She was in her prime here. She actually performed this song "live" on the Ed Sullivan Show in early 1965. I hope someday this performance is made viewable in "You Tube" or is released on a DVD compilation. Curiously, the song was released in two ways, a faster 45 version with jingle bells in the background (The song was released Christmas week 1964) Then there is the slower stereo version that first appeared on Lesley's albums "Girl Talk" and "The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore". The slower version is the better version, and perhaps had that one been released as a single it might have gone higher in the charts. Lesley continued her winning streak in 1965 with a big summer hit "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" (#13). Her last big hit would come in 1967 with the wonderful and atmospheric "California Nights" (#16). Lesley's artistic career does not end here, but her girl group sound era did. Besides her many hits, Her CD box set offers many gems that she recorded at Mercury, and one of them is "Fools Rush In". Her exquisite vocal performance and a winning arrangement make this song a must for any Lesley Gore fan. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v199/boopkid/Miscellaneous/?action=view¤t=lgorelookofloveslv.jpg "The Look Of Love" 45 Picture Sleeve-My Favorite Lesley Gore song
Richard Astley-Clemas	posted 10/26/07 7:58 PM       The song Its my party had been knocking around Nashville for at least a year and turned down by many country singers like Skeeter Davis.So it went in the "slush pile"-until a British girl singer decided she wanted to cut an album in Nashville in 1962. Helen Shapiro was this country's biggest girl singer at the time and had already had 2 chart toppers. While she was learning the songs from the demos they'd given her the Beatles made their first single-in only a matter of months she would be linked to them. As helen had no track record in the States they gave her all the rejects and amongst them was Its my party-demoed by the writers.Thus she cut the original of this song. Meanwhile Leslie Gore was very lucky-probably Nashville had sent the demos to New York and maybe she saw something in the song others missed but Quincy Jones was brought in to arrange it. The album Helen In Nashville however was of songs which never travelled far though Gene Pitney did Not responsible. Helen's record label decided the most commercial song was a Jackie de Shannon one called Woe is me-when Its my party was the hidden one with potential and never a single for her. Helen did a mass of cover versions but never did a direct one to compete with somebody else.Like the Walker Brothers later-or the Searchers-she recorded songs which had failed for others but were big for her because she was on a roll until the end of 1963.Thus her version of Keep away from other girls was not in competition with Babs Tino who'd flopped with it. Ammazingly though this was to begin a mini trend-the Walker Brothers cut a song which had flopped for Frankie Valli yet was a chart topper for them. And the British Invasion was resposible for many American failed songs from even an Orlons B side which topped the chart for the Searchers to a failed song handed to the Moody Blues by a dj-again a No 1-Go Now http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rumine This is the website of Ginny Wright
Wes	posted 11/2/07 3:27 PM       What a dope I was not to catch "MAYBE I KNOW" when it came out!!!! Somehow,never payed any attention to it until the 80's when I bought her Mercury "HITS" C.D. It certainly was my loss BECAUSE it's great. Nowadays I have to make up for all the plays it never got at my house when it was released!
Richard Astley-Clemas	posted 11/3/07 0:18 AM       This was in the days of the pirate ships and it was on every day.I don't think Leslie Gore had many hits here but everything was released. At the time we had this girl singer Sandie Shaw who along with Pet Clark was the big gun .Can't say I liked her at all-I didn't like her name or her face or her appalling sense of fashion.Pet Clark was however a thousand time better http://groups.yahoo.com/group/highschoolpoppers This is the website for loads of pictures of girl singers
Sergio	posted 11/3/07 1:39 AM       Richard, I learned about Sandie Shaw back in 1964, she had a mild hit here in the states with "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" and reached #52 on the Billboard Charts. A great version of that song. She charted two other songs in 1965, but less memorable than the debut song. However,I realized her widespread popularity in Europe, when I spent the summer of 1967 in Spain with my uncle...There she was on all over the music stations, with a huge hit called "Puppet On A String". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGZ-voN5oEQ Puppet On A String
Sergio	posted 11/3/07 2:15 AM       Wes, As the saying goes "Better Late Than Never", I am glad that you finally discovered "Maybe I Know", even if it was almost 20 years later- Such a great melodic hit. "Maybe I Know" reminds me of my short lived residence in Donelson, Tenn. back in the summer of '64. http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9UomHul178 "Maybe I know"
Wes	posted 11/3/07 4:59 AM       Hey Sergio, Just think,most likely you and Robin Clark living in the same town,probably at the same time. Small world,isn't it!
Sergio	posted 11/20/07 3:38 AM       I made 13 the summer of 1965 and my "love" for Lesley Gore was in full bloom. I had just bought "The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore" album and "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" was climbing the charts. My group of friends and I would cha-cha endlessly to her hits or sing to the songs, which had all the lyrics printed on the inner sleeve...But the "Goriest" moment came one night when I was spending the summer in Miami visiting my cousin Marilyn- Her parents took us kids to the Drive-In theater to see "Ski Party". Imagine, I was besides myself with excitement, I had heard Lesley appeared in the movie, and it was so important that I see my teenage crush on the BIG screen(not knowing that her appearance would be ever so fleeting and at the beginning of the movie to boot!). We walked to the concession stand to buy popcorn and drinks and as we were returning to the car, someone said, "look Lesley Gore is up on the screen singing". Horrors of horrors, I couldn't hear her, because the speaker was by the car, and all I could see was Lesley in the bus mouthing away. I began to run and tripped on something and there went my popcorn and drink and all I got was a skinned and bloodied knee (my "Gory" moment). I quickly got up and kind of staggered to the car with blood dripping down my leg,and my cousin so kindly helping me, and I must have caught the last 10 seconds of one of the shortest songs in the history of rock!:o( I was so disappointed!!!! I spent the rest of the movie wondering if Lesley would reappear, but to no avail she never did... So to this day, any time I hear "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" I kind of get mixed feelings of how hard I "paid" to see Lesley on the big screen, and in retrospect, fighting so hard to see it made it all the more memorable to me. My cousin and I to this day reminisce and laugh about that night of "Drive-in, No Popcorn, and a Bloody Knee".;o) P.S. A few weeks later when I returned to New Orleans, I went to the neighborhood theater and caught the whole movie without missing a second. http://youtube.com/watch?v=-MaBpfqLBSg Lesley's Ski Party appearance
Ally	posted 11/20/07 7:15 AM       too funny Sergio. Yep, in those days, we only got glimpses of our idols. A few were on TV, Shelley Fabares, Roberta Shore, Patty Duke (later) Annette (movies) but alas, just a record cover pic, or teen magazine, Dick Clark. Glimpses.
Richard Astley-Clemas	posted 11/20/07 11:22 AM       Amazing how this inferior cover of the LOU JOHNSON song charted in the States.The guy who discovered her-Adam Faith-covered Lou's next single Message to Martha! Yet HIS only American hit was a B side called Its alright. Adam made at least a couple of good Mersybeat copies which charted here and it would have made more sense if THESE had been U S hits-otherwise he meant no more in the States than Fabian did here. However Sandie Shaw probably did fior herself in 1968 when she rush released a cover of Mary Hopkins' Those were the days-a pretty unethical thing to do as Mary was a new name.Fortunately she won and Sandie Shaw only had one more hit but she got a lot of bad press over this http://groups.yahoo.com/group/highschoolpoppers This is the website for loads of pictures of girl singers
Sergio	posted 2/15/08 3:51 AM       This morning I found this wonderful old video of Lesley Gore, and I want to share it with this board. Lesley is seen here at the height of her popularity in 1963 at age 17. She looks so lovely, poised and handled herself so elegantly at such a young age. She truly looks like a Princess, a class act. It puts to shame the vulgar young singers of today... http://youtube.com/watch?v=VWc-nO6mFrQ "It's My Party" and "She's A Fool" Medley
Wes	posted 2/15/08 4:53 AM       Wow,Sergio.....wish I could write about all my favorite singers the way you can! I can only do so in little snippets whenever I can think of something to say. I THINK my favorite Lesley Gore song these days is "MAYBE I KNOW". It wasn't so when it came out,because I hardly paid any attention to it...and then one day several years later,I was listening to it,and it finally hit me,"This Is Great"!
Sergio	posted 2/16/08 2:31 AM       Wes, Thanks for your kind words, and I know what you mean about rediscovering songs. This has happened to me of recent with Skeeter Davis' "Gonna Get Along Without You Now", I was living near Nashville at the time of its popularity and at age 12 it didn't grab me, but now I can't get it out of my mind. I was so saddened when I recently found out that Skeeter died a couple of years ago. I was recently at a flea market and I found a vintage album of hers, I bought it for 5 dollars and it is in great condition. It contains the song above, and the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song "I Can't Stay Mad At You", a huge hit for Skeeter in 1963. What a find! http://youtube.com/watch?v=yZcXdHa5obM Skeeter Davis' wonderful "Gonna Get Along Without You Now"
Sergio	posted 3/29/08 0:34 AM       A dream come true came my way just now and I just had to share it with ALL of you. I finally stumbled onto Lesley singing "Look Of Love", my favorite, live on TV and in its day (early 1965)and thanks to the miracle of You Tube. The video also has Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers performing their monster hit "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and other hits of the day. Donna Loren also chimes in with a song or two. Lovely Lesley SHINES! http://youtube.com/watch?v=83XeHx3OFDM&feature=related Lesley Gore sings "Look Of Love" among others with The Righteous Brothers
Sergio	posted 5/3/08 2:56 PM       Wes, Finally "Maybe I Know" comes to You Tube, a clip from the legendary TAMI show in 1964. I know you like this one. She was so pretty. I love that flip, hairspray and all. Lesley, A belated Happy Birthday, it was yesterday. http://youtube.com/watch?v=CR9rP5e0sWQ Lesley Gore sings "Maybe I Know" at the 1964 TAMI Show
Wes	posted 5/4/08 10:06 PM       Sergio, Just now saw this and clicked on the link Very Good! Thank you! Wes
daydreamer	posted 2/17/09 3:30 PM     Where can I obtain on CD the MONO versions of Lesley Gore's hits? Any help would be appreciated.
Bitter Armand	posted 2/17/09 6:40 PM     Altho I've been aware of Helen Shapiro for sometime I've only just now really become acquainted with her music & it really is a crime that - like probably every pioneer Brit-rocker except Cliff Richard - the Merseybeat boom put her on the slush pile. I don't begrudge Lesley the hit version of It's My Party - I've heard that was rush released to beat a version by the Crystals: true? - but Helen deserved at least one mid-60s hit: being perceived as part of the Swingin' London scene would have given Helen a career security she clearly didn't enjoy. Helen reportedly covered Walk on By but it's not listed as one of her single releases - perhaps Helen's label was being humane figuring Dionne might go apoplectic if she lost out to another Brit cover! Considering only one of Helen's Brit hits appeared on the US charts - Walkin' Back to Happiness which managed no#100 - it's amazing that as late as '67 one of her ignored Brit singles was released in the US: Make Me Belong to You/The Way of the World. I'd assume the A-side is the Billy Vera/Chip Taylor tune that Barbara Lewis took into the Top 30 the previous year - I actually don't think that song was much of a showcase for Barbara & would do even less for Helen.
Tom Diehl	posted 2/19/09 11:43 PM       Daydreamer, I'm not sure if the mono mixes have all turned up in one place on CD.... but one i'd love to find is the early promo 45 version of You Don't Own Me, which was mixed differently than the stock 45.

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