Wonderful tribute to mid-60s pop -rock sensation , Leslie Gore who passed last week, from an oldies fan, newsman James Rosen.  Rosen may be  too young to  remember the heyday but who is right  on an interesting critique about an ‘outisder,’ if you will, who  somehow perservered in the midst of the British Invasion and a male-dominated music scene. 

Opinion: In tribute to Lesley Gore, singular chronicler of teenage angst

FEBRUARY 22, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2015, 1:21 AM

BY JAMES ROSEN

THE RECORD

 

If it is true for us all, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote for himself in 1970, that “high school is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of,” then the Lesley Gore songbook offered a definitive chronicle of the American experience

TEENAGE life as a crucible of romantic passion and emotional anguish. Parties as theaters of betrayal and jealousy. Rings worn by unworthy others. Boyfriends stolen, infidelities exposed; reputations destroyed, identities concealed.

Such was the tormented portrait of everyday life for affluent white schoolgirls in mid-20th-century America that was sketched in song by Lesley Gore, with the aid of her brilliant (and African-American) producer, Quincy Jones, in the pre-Beatles AM-radio heyday of the early 1960s. If it is true for us all, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote for himself in 1970, that “high school is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of,” then the Lesley Gore songbook offered a definitive chronicle of the American experience – and the unexpected announcement of Gore’s death last week, from lung cancer at the age of 68, should have occasioned a greater sense of loss, a wider tribute, from the public at large. CONTINUED 

 

Gore was well-liked by fellow performers, male and female alike. ‘Lightning’ Lou Christie, was a close friend of Gore’s and sang with and recorded a duet with her (see list tribute statement below) and there were many others like Dion, Ronnie Spector, etc (whose comments you can see @ https://www.facebook.com/OldiesCountry) . As noted in Rosen’s article, Gore was a frequent guest of popular DJ ‘Cousin’ Brucie on his Sirius XM oldies show.  Though looking back her life was , no doubt, not always easy , going through formative years ‘miscast,’as it were.  Yet, things worked out, and at least one of those hit songs, ‘You Don’t Own Me’  Gore could later look back at with pride as the lyrics were anything but offensive to her later beliefs. Who knows? Maybe even early in her career she gave voice to help choose that record with latent feelings inside.  Glad she did if she did. But even without the , perhaps, biographical song, Gore should be proud with her career, during which she stayed on the charts as long as the Beatles, with  10  Top 40 hits spanning 1963-1967.

Almost too unsettling to put the news of loss of yet another of our pop/rock and roll and formitive years heros/heroins described by so many as a wonderful, caring and giving person in addition to being a great singer with many songs that … See More

I was just thinking back to one of several concerts at which I saw Leslie Gore perform.

Many articles have talked about her personality and lifestyle, but somewhat overlooked has been her great voice and musicality. Add that to great production from a young Quincy Jones and you had some truly fine songs, call it rock and roll or pop. The blend of guitar with horns and rythm was truly magical to a young kid, like myself at the time.  In those later concerts at which I saw Gore perform – like at Circle Star theater in the round, San Carlos, CA probably late 1980s – I was struck how even better Gore sounded live with blaring sax and skip-beat (as I call it) rythms provided by the Monte Carlo band from Los Angeles, as I recall.  Most artists sounded better on their records. As good as her records are, Gore sounded EVEN BETTER in person I would discover. Her recent performances at Cousin Brucie’s Palasades Park Reunion were extroardinary with a great , updated arrangement of ‘It’s My Party.’