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SPEAKER_00: Hello. From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica. We're celebrating Pride Month with icons, supreme queens of queer culture. Some are household names. Others are a little more behind the scenes. All have defied social norms and influenced generations of people to be unapologetically themselves. Today we're talking about a pop singer who topped the charts in the 1960s. Her songs gave a voice to teenage love and angst and to the burgeoning second wave feminist movement. Let's talk about Leslie Gore. Leslie was born on May 2nd, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in the nearby town, Tenafly, New Jersey. By the time she was a teenager, Leslie demonstrated a natural and forceful talent as a singer. Her vocal teacher helped her record a few simple demos with piano accompaniment in the studio. Those demos became Leslie's ticket to stardom when they crossed paths with legendary producer Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones is now one of the most recognizable and award-winning producers in American music history. But in the early 1960s, he was still proving himself in the business. When he heard Leslie's singular voice, girlish yet commanding, it was clear he'd discovered something special. Leslie recorded what became her first and biggest hit on a Saturday afternoon at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan. The song, titled, "'It's My Party, and I'll Cry If I Want To," follows a classic narrative of teen heartbreak. When Quincy learned that fellow producer Phil Spector also planned to record the song with a girl group, he rushed production of Leslie's version to beat him to it. The song became a number one hit within a few weeks, with many of his songs being released within a few weeks, with millions of teenage girls able to relate to its story of romantic disappointment. By June of that same year, Leslie released her first album titled, "'I'll Cry If I Want To.'" Leslie and her family struggled to adapt to her newfound fame, especially since Leslie was still just 16 years old. She later recalled, when the disc jockey would say, that was Leslie Kaur, the sweetie pie from Tenafly. Well, people just came to Tenafly. You know, I'd wake up, and there were people camped out on the grass. Leslie continued to release pop singles. It's Judy's Turn to Cry, the sequel to It's My Party, hit number five on the charts. Her other big hit, You Don't Own Me, became a feminist rallying cry when it was released in late 1963. Its anti-patriarchal lyrics resonated with the millions of women and girls listening to the radio. Leslie later said, I don't care what age you are, 16 or 116. There's nothing more wonderful than standing on the stage and shaking your finger and singing, Don't Tell Me What To Do. The song reached number two on the singles chart. It was boxed out of the number one spot by the Beatles smash hit, I Wanna Hold Your Hand. As the decade progressed, Leslie's genre of girl group pop was slowly replaced by a more psychedelic sound. She didn't have any more top 10 hits. She chose to continue her education at Sarah Lawrence College rather than pursue music full time. Leslie's college years gave her the time and space to explore her sexuality and helped her realize she was a lesbian. Though it would be decades before she came out publicly, she said she never tried to hide that aspect of her identity from close friends and family. As she put it, I just tried to live as normally as humanly possible, but as truthfully as humanly possible. After graduating in 1968, Leslie continued to release singles, though she never achieved the same chart-topping success again. Eventually she turned to songwriting and released several singer-songwriter albums over the course of her career. In 1980, Leslie was a singer-songwriter In 1980, Leslie and her brother Michael co-wrote the song, Out Here On My Own, for the soundtrack of the movie Fame. It became a hit and earned Leslie an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. In her later years, Leslie lived with her longtime partner, Lois Sasson in New York City. She died of lung cancer on February 16th, 2015. She was 68 years old. All month, we're talking about icons. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram, at Wamanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
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SPEAKER_04: In 1995, Detective Tony Richardson was trying to figure out who killed a fellow officer. The case comes down to who is believed and who is ignored. Oh my goodness. We did convict an innocent man. I'm Beth Shelburne from Lava for Good Podcasts. This is Ear Witness. Listen to Ear Witness on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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