Digital Interviews: How did you receive your early musical training?

Lesley Gore: That’s interesting, because I really basically had no “technique.” In high school I was in chorus and choir and that, frankly, was really helpful to me. It helped me begin to learn how to read music and sing with other people and get the idea of harmonies, and that was really terrifically helpful. But the other thing I had was a cousin who was a drummer, and he worked his way through college playing the drums with a band. So I got to sing with a band on a lot of occasions, learn lots of songs, sing them in any possible key. You get to work and try things out without it being so important that you can’t flop or make a mistake.

DI: Was it always your dream to be a professional singer?

LG: I think I always wanted to be a singer. I think the first thing that intrigued me about singing was the interpretation of lyrics. I listened to Anita O’Day and June Christy and Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. These were the ladies that turned me on to singing, so it somehow was not just the message but how they projected the message.

DI: Then you went from singing as a hobby to singing with Quincy Jones. How did that come about?

LG: I was studying with a vocal coach in New York City, a gentleman by the name of Myron Earnhart, and one day instead of having a lesson, we went to a little studio in the building we worked in - which is the same building that “The Late Show” is in, the David Letterman show…used to be the Ed Sullivan Theater. We recorded some demos and those were what Quincy heard, and he called me up and said “I’d like to record with you.”

DI: Why was “It’s My Party” released so quickly after you recorded it?

LG: We recorded during the day. That evening, Quincy was at Carnegie Hall hosting an event for Mercury Records - Charles Aznavour was performing there. He was standing on the steps of Carnegie Hall, and Phil Spector came up to him and said, “Quincy, I’m recording the greatest song I’ve ever recorded in my life,” with a group called the Crystals, who were just coming off of “Da Doo Ron Ron.” Quincy, with a perfect poker face, said, “Oh really, what’s the name of the song?” He said, “It’s My Party,” and Quincy, being a pretty smart guy, realized that the publisher had basically “double dealt” us. One of the partners gave us an exclusive for the song, and the other partner gave Phil Spector the exclusive. When Quincy realized this he called Phil Ramone up. On Sunday morning he went over to Bell Sound, got the two-inch tape, and he and Phil sat at A&R Studios and they turned out acetates all day. They had about 100 of them, and those went out into the mail on Monday morning to the biggest radio stations in the country, so basically we pre-empted Phil’s record, which wasn’t finished yet.

DI: You also had two hits written by Marvin Hamlisch?

LG: I actually did a number of his songs, but the two that I had hits with were “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” and “California Nights”

DI: You appeared on the legendary “T.A.M.I. Show,” as part of a bill that included the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Chuck Berry and Marvin Gaye. What recollections do you have?

LG: I remember walking out there and really kind of “freaking” in my head, because the audience was so loud. I couldn’t hear the orchestra and it was a big orchestra. They were so loud. Your eardrums almost felt like they were going to break. The first show I barely heard the orchestra at all. We actually taped something like three shows, which became “The T.A.M.I. Show.” They took the best of it. When I went back after the first show I said, “I don’t even know what happened out there.” [laughs] “We got to find a way to crank that sound up.”

DI: Did you begin composing back in the 60s, when you were performing cover tunes?

LG: Not really. I didn’t really start until, sort of, the late 60s. I did do a couple of things with my brother every now and again, but I didn’t really get into songwriting until the 70s.

DI: How much touring did you do at that time?

LG: Not very much. I was in school and I tried to only tour during Christmas holidays and Easter, and summer of course, so I didn’t really take advantage of some of the touring possibilities at the time.

DI: How did your involvement in the “Fame” soundtrack come about?

LG: Well, my brother was working on it for months with Alan Parker. It was originally not going to be original music; it was going to be all “source music.” But Michael was on the case so early because they needed to cast young kids from the school, and teachers, and they had to find source music, so he was on the film much earlier than a musician normally walks into a film. So he started some original things and playing for Alan, and Alan loved what he was doing, so it became an original musical. Michael played me “Out Here On My Own” one day, and I said “Gimme a shot at that, I like that.” It wasn’t called “Out Here On My Own” until I called it that. I basically heard what I thought the title should be in my head the first pass through, so I asked him for a shot at it.

DI: Were you just blown away when it was nominated for an Oscar?

LG: Oh yeah, absolutely.

DI: Had you come full circle?

LG: In a funny way, yeah I think so - because so much of my earlier career I hadn’t been taken very seriously. I was a “girl group” - you know, “fun songs,” “bubblegummy” or “party,” and some others - except “You Don't Own Me.”

DI: Fans have always told you how important song has been to them. Are you making “a statement” even today?

LG: No question about it. It’s the one song - after some 40 years, I still close my show with that song because I can’t find anything stronger, to be honest with you. It’s a song that just kind of grows every time you do it. It might mean one thing one year and “boom,” two years later, boy it can mean something else.

DI: You’ve also done various “summer stock” theatre productions.

LG: Having grown up just outside of New York City, I was always kind of interested in theatre and Broadway, and I just sort of gravitated to that. It’s another way of making music, and being in a “book show” is kind of wonderful because this whole family of people comes along with it. It is very different from getting out there and standing there all by yourself and it’s wonderful to be able to work with a cast of people that way.

DI: You made it to Broadway in “Smokey Joe’s Café.”

LG: It was the best. I really tried, because I said to myself, “This is Broadway.” It was 52nd Street, you know, but it was the real thing. The beauty of working under those circumstances is that everyone is there to make it the best possible performance every single night - the sound people, the lighting people - I mean, they’re really there working as a team, and it was an extraordinary experience. One of my very dear friends was the musical director, so it was a wonderful, wonderful time for me; I enjoyed it.

DI: What are you looking to do in the future?

LG: A little bit of everything. I’m looking to try to put my own music into a theatrical ambience that works a little bit more intimate, where I can tell a few more stories and maybe take people through some of the stuff that happened, sing my songs and some songs that have been important and influential in my own life.

DI: Will there be a “Fame” sequel?

LG: That’s very exciting. As a matter of fact, ABC is re-doing “Fame.” They’ve just gotten the “green light,” so it probably will be on within the next year, and basically it is “Fame” twenty years later at a new school - new teachers, new students. I think we’re probably going to have Coco, Irene Cara, come back as a teacher, so when they do “Out Here On My Own” it becomes a pivotal thing, where she kind of “hands over the baton” to one of her students.

DI: What message or lesson would you give to a young singer?

LG: It’s really easy to give them the right message. The message is, they really have to study and work very hard. These people who are out there, making records today, are not only great musicians, great songwriters, they’re great business people. They do their own choreography. I mean they are really multitalented, multi-faceted, so it’s really important, I think, for people who are getting out there to know their stuff. Study and write songs and listen to music, and just keep working at it, ‘cause it’s harder now. The bar’s a little bit higher, but there are some really, really talented people out there and you gotta be tenacious. You really gotta stick with it.