LABELS AND TEXT PANELS - National Museum of Women in the Arts

'You Don't Own Me' made it more so. So I was choosing material that seemed to be earmarking where I was going
to go philosophically. Those songs shaped my career in terms of ideology."
Musical Arrangement for “It’s My Party,” 1963
Arrangement by Billy Byers, Al Cohn and Quincy Jones
Gift of Lesley Gore
“It’s My Party” was Lesley Gore’s first hit. It reached Number One on both the pop and R&B charts in 1963. Gore’s
expression of teenage broken-hearted petulance in “It’s My Party” evolved into full-blown proto-feminist defiance
with the release of 1964’s “You Don’t Own Me,” which reached Number Two. Eminem’s “Untitled,” from 2010’s
Recovery, features a sample of “You Don’t Own Me.”
“You Don’t Own Me” / “Run, Bobby, Run,” 1964
Lesley Gore
In Memory of Cecile Rhe Frame Rutledge
Lesley Gore’s expression of teenage broken-hearted petulance in “It’s My Party” evolved into full-blown protofeminist
defiance with the release of 1964’s “You Don’t Own Me,” which reached Number Two. Eminem’s
“Untitled,” from 2010’s Recovery, features a sample of “You Don’t Own Me.”
“Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” / “You’ve Come Back,” 1965
Lesley Gore
Gift of Aurelia Campbell
Lesley Gore received a Grammy nomination for “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” which she performed in the
1965 Frankie Avalon film Ski Party.
Lesley Gore Music Score Case, 1963
Gift of Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore’s producer, Quincy Jones, gave Gore this music score case on the eve of her first tour of the U.K., in
1963. The case was painted by a fan of Gore’s during her residency at Lulu’s Roadhouse near Toronto, a
preeminent nightclub in North America at the time.
Lesley Gore Dress, 1969
Design by Cosmo Sirchio
Gift of Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore wore this dress at her New York nightclub debut at the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel. Gore changed
into the dress for performances of her encore, recalling, “The dress was so heavy I could only wear it for one
number!”
THE SHIRELLES
The Shirelles were one of the earliest and certainly among the very best girl groups from the late Fifties
and early Sixties. No less a rock and roll expert than John Lennon proclaimed the Shirelles his favorite group in the
early days of Beatlemania. Shirley Alston-Reeves, Addie “Micki” Harris, Doris Kenner Jackson and Beverly Lee were
high-school students in Passaic, New Jersey, when they formed the group in 1957. A fellow student heard the
Pequellos, as they called themselves, perform at a school talent show. She brought them to the attention of her
mother, Florence Greenberg, who owned a small record label. Renaming themselves the Shirelles, they released
their first single, “I Met Him on a Sunday,” on Greenberg’s Tiara Records. It was picked up for national distribution
by Decca and narrowly missed the Top 40 in 1958. The single established the Shirelles and helped Greenberg
launch the legendary Scepter label.
In 1959, they first released the classic “Dedicated to the One I Love.” Though it barely dented the Top 100,
it soared to Number Three upon re-release in 1961. Among their other hits were “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” -
the first Number One single by a girl group - “Soldier Boy” and “Baby It’s You.” The only thing that could stop the
Shirelles, ironically, was the Beatles – or, more precisely, the British Invasion, which basically brought about a
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