Lesley Gore, best known for singing the 1960s hits "It's My Party," "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me," has died. She was 68. 
 
 Gore died Monday in New York City after a battle with cancer, said Blake Morgan, the chief executive of ECR Music Group, which released Gore’s latest album. 
 
 While still in high school, Gore burst onto the music scene in 1963 with "It's My Party." The Quincy Jones-produced single, a pouty song from the perspective of a girl lamenting that the boy of her choice has spurned her, topped the charts. 
 
 That song was followed by others, including the vengeful sequel "Judy’s Turn to Cry," the resigned "Maybe I Know" and the upbeat "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," as well as the one that irrevocably linked her to the feminist movement: "You Don’t Own Me." 
 
 "She was a wonderful human being — caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian," Lois Sasson, Gore’s partner of more than three decades, told the Associated Press. 
 
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 Jones, who produced several songs Gore sang, said Monday that he was heartbroken over her passing. Recalling her teenage years, he said in a statement: "Lesley was an incredibly soulful singer/songwriter even at that young and that was why the world embraced her songs the way it did." 
 
 As a songwriter, Gore worked with her brother Michael. Their "Out Here on My Own" from the 1980 film “Fame” was nominated for an Academy Award. 
 
 Gore also dabbled in television acting, playing the role of Pussycat in the cult 1960s show "Batman." 
 
 Born in 1946, Gore grew up in Tenafly, N.J. After high school, she slowed the breakneck pace of her music career as she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and American literature at Sarah Lawrence College, then hit the nightclub circuit. 
 
 "Oddly enough, the performer whose sound she projects most strongly is Bing Crosby," the New York Times said in 1969. "She has Mr. Crosby’s casual, low-throated manner of talking and in the easygoing passages of her songs she uses a husky, glottal projection that is very reminiscent of the old groaner in his heyday." 
 
 She appeared on Broadway in "Smokey Joe’s Cafe" in the late 1990s. 
 
 A few years later, she was a host of "In the Life," a PBS series that dealt with gay and lesbian issues. She publicly came out as a lesbian around that time, and she told AfterEllen.com in 2005 that she realized it in her early 20s. 
 
 Also in 2005, she released her first album in three decades. The jazz-, folk- and indie-tinged "Ever Since," produced by Morgan, heavily featured new material but also revisited "You Don’t Own Me" and "Out Here on My Own." 
 
 "Lesley was like my rock ’n’ roll godmother," Morgan told the Los Angeles Times, adding that he had known her since his childhood. "It was a very courageous record for her to make, and a very defiant one…. We toured on that record for more than two years." 
 
 For more news, follow @raablauren on Twitter. 
 
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 Fearing demolition, fans push to make Norms a cultural monument ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — 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. 
 
 FILE - In this Tuesday, April 22, 2008, file photo, Lesley Gore performs at the ASCAP musical tribute which honored Quincy Jones with the ASCAP Pied Piper Award, in New York. Singer-songwriter Gore, who... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this May 5, 1964, file photo, singer Lesley Gore hugs a flowered record at her 18th birthday party celebrated at the Delmonico Hotel in New York. Singer-songwriter Gore, who topped the charts... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 5, 1966, file photo, singer Lesley Gore rehearses at a piano, in New York. Singer-songwriter Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 with her epic song of teenage angst, "It's My Party,"... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, file photo, singer Lesley Gore poses for a photo at Sirius Satellite Radio studios in New York. Singer-songwriter Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 with her... (Associated Press) 
 
 Gore, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital 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 hits include "She's A Fool," ''Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," which Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote, "That's the Way Boys Are" and "Maybe I Know." She co-wrote with her brother, Michael, the Academy Award-nominated "Out Here On My Own" from the film "Fame." 
 
 She sang at the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show in Santa Monica, California, alongside future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like the James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Gore also played Catwoman's sidekick in the cult TV comedy "Batman." 
 
 "She was a serious artist that was way ahead of her time," said Ronnie Spector in a statement. "She had a certain sound. But you want to be able to do new things too, and it can be hard on an artist that is so identified with a specific sound. Although she wasn't in a girl group, Lesley was definitely a huge part of that era. But she continued to be creative, and kept looking ahead, and that's how I will remember her." 
 
 In a Facebook post, songwriter Neil Sedaka, who attended Gore's Sweet 16 birthday party, shared his thoughts: "She was a great person and a phenomenal talent, who had opened for me on many occasions. She recorded a few of my songs ("Magic Colors" and "Summer Symphony") and was a great songwriter in her own right. I'm glad I had the chance of knowing her." 
 
 In the 1990s, Gore co-wrote "My Secret Love" for Allison Anders' film "Grace of My Heart," released in 1996. A couple of years later, she appeared in "Smokey Joe's Cafe" on Broadway. Gore 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 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?" 
 
 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. 
 
 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 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. Services will be held on Thursday at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home on Madison Avenue. ||||| Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who scored a massive hit in 1963 with “It’s My Party,” died Monday. She was 68. 
 
 Gore’s partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson, told the Associated Press that she died of cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. 
 
 Gore was born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey. Producer Quincy Jones discovered her when she was a teenager, and she went on to sign with Mercury Records. Gore’s early records were some of Jones’ first big hits. 
 
 The singer broke out into the music scene in 1963 with “It’s My Party,” which raced to No. 1 on the charts, was nominated for a Grammy and sold more than 1 million copies. She followed that up with such hits as “That’s the Way Boys Are,” “She’s a Fool,” “Maybe I Know,” “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” and “You Don’t Own Me,” which sold more than 1 million copies as well and landed her a No. 2 spot on the charts. 
 
 Gore was nominated for an Oscar, along with her brother Michael, for co-writing “Out Here on My Own” from 1980’s “Fame.” Her other film work includes co-writing “My Secret Love” for Allison Anders’ 1996 film “Grace of My Heart.” 
 
 She also appeared on Broadway, having a role in “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” in the late ’90s. 
 
 Her most recent album, her first in 30 years, came in 2005 with “Ever Since.” Near the end of her life, Gore had been working on a stage adaptation of her life. 
 
 Gore is survived by Sasson, her brother and her mother, Ronnie.
– Lesley Gore, the singer-songwriter who scored a huge hit as a 16-year-old with "It's My Party" in 1963, has died at the age of 68. Gore, who grew up in New Jersey and was discovered by Quincy Jones, followed up the Grammy-nominated chart-topper with hits including "She's a Fool," "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows," and "You Don't Own Me," which became a feminist anthem, reports the Los Angeles Times. Gore and her brother Michael were nominated for an Oscar for writing "Out Here on My Own" for 1980's Fame. She released Ever Since, her first album in 30 years, in 2005 and had been working on a stage adaptation of her life, Variety reports. She also played Catwoman's sidekick Pussycat in the 1960s Batman TV series. ECR Music Group chief Blake Morgan, who produced Gore's last album, says he had known her since his childhood. "Lesley was like my rock 'n' roll godmother," he tells the Times. "It was a very courageous record for her to make, and a very defiant one." Gore came out as a lesbian when she hosted a few episodes of the PBS series In the Life, which dealt with gay and lesbian issues. "She was a wonderful human being—caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian," Lois Sasson, her partner of 33 years, tells the AP. Sasson says Gore, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer yesterday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.