Lesley Gore died of lung cancer in New York City at age 68.
Lesley Gore died on February 16, 2015, in New York City after a battle with lung cancer. She was 68 years old. Her death was announced by her longtime partner, Lois Sasson, with whom she had shared her life for over three decades, a relationship Gore had kept largely private for much of her career before becoming more open about her identity as a lesbian in later years.
Tributes poured in from across the music industry and beyond, honoring her as both a pioneering pop star of the 1960s and a symbol of female empowerment whose 1963 hit "You Don't Own Me" had become an anthem for generations of women advocating for autonomy and independence. Contemporary artists and commentators noted how her music, once seen simply as teen pop, had taken on deeper resonance as a feminist statement decades after its release.
Gore's passing marked the end of an era for early 1960s pop music, as she was among the last surviving major stars of that pre-British Invasion moment in American music history. Her legacy endured through continued airplay, film and television placements of her songs, and recognition of her groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated songwriting work with her brother Michael Gore. Her death prompted renewed appreciation for her contributions to both music and, quietly, to LGBTQ visibility in entertainment.