What Ever Became of Lesley Gore?



You Don’t Own MeYou Don’t Own Me
by Trevor Tolliver
Backbeat Books. 209 pages, $24.99


BORN JUST AFTER World War II, the late Lesley Gore (1946–2015) was, according to her parents, a musical prodigy. They claimed that she could vocally “duplicate the melody of a song” at the age of six months. As a toddler, she loved to perform for her parents’ guests. In recounting those anecdotes and others that follow, Tolliver seems as proud as any parent or uncle. This can sometimes lead to a somewhat uncomfortable tone of familiarity, but otherwise the author does a decent job recounting Gore’s career trajectory—and what an astounding career it was, especially from the point-of-view of today.

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