"You know what I’m going to say when people ask me what I’ve been doing for 30 years? 'Practicing.'"
It was her party in 1963, but at 61 Lesley Gore's ditched the Sandra Dee flip and -- after quietly honing her musical craft out of the spotlight, as she wryly suggests in the quote above -- is gaining fans anew. The New Jersey native (and former Quincy Jones protegée) has been playing club gigs of late, performing material from "Ever Since," her first album in more than two decades.
At one such show recently in New York, we were mesmerized by her voice (think Marianne Faithfull and latter-day Joni Mitchell), by her spare, almost haunting arrangements (on new songs, but also on retreaded hits like "You Don't Know Me" or "On My Own," penned with her brother for the movie Fame) and by the lady herself -- in such clear and full possession of her talent, yet still seeking, experimenting and learning.
written on Tuesday Jul 24, 2007
party,
cry,
album.
