One of Lesley Gore’s best songs is the proto-feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me” from her second album, Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts; her other two hits from that album, “She’s a Fool” and “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” are also top-notch.  “California Nights” reached the Top 20 in 1967; the song was co-written by Marvin Hamlisch as was “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”. 

Lesley Gore’s first two albums, I’ll Cry If I Want To and Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts were produced by Quincy Jones, one of the best in the business – Michael Jackson’s Thriller is only the best-known of his production efforts – and a talented jazz artist and bandleader in his own right with a Renaissance-man career that dates back to the early 1950’s.  

(January 2014)