IN MEMORIAM: LESLIE GORE

Leslie Gore, songwriter of the epic 1963 teenage girl misery moment "It's My Party," the #1 hit that forever changed our pop lexicon because we'll all "cry if we want to," passed away Monday at the age of 68.

Born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones as a teenager. "They had a demo of this little girl that had been submitted, and I caught it as it was being thrown back...to Irving [Green, then-president of Mercury Records]," Jones recalled in an interview with NPR back in 2001. "And I liked it because she sang in tune, and she had a nice sound, a very identifiable sound, and that was the first pop record I made, was Lesley Gore, 'It's My Party.'"

Gore went on to be mentored by Jones and turned out other big hits in her career, including the feminist anthem "You Don't Own Me," "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "That's the Way Boys Are." She was nominated for an Oscar with her brother Michael for writing the Irene Cara ballad "Out Here on My Own" from the 1980 movie Fame. During the 2012 Presidential election, Gore created a famous PSA for women's reproductive rights using her music; she was also an activist for LGBT issues.

"She was a serious artist that was way ahead of her time," said Ronnie Spector in a statement.

Gore, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, according to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.