The late, great Quincy Jones was arguably overqualified to produce this No. 1 hit for 16-year-old Lesley Gore in 1963. He had already led his own 18-piece jazz band on European tours and worked as a composer, arranger and band leader for people like Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. When he turned his attention to pop music, he proved as adept at that as everything else he tried.
His first hurdle was beating Phil Spector to market. Gore’s record was in the can, but Spector was simultaneously recording the tune (supposedly with the Crystals but more likely with the Blossoms). When Jones learned of it he rushed to the studio to crank out test pressings that he sent to influential DJs. Gore’s version caught on so quickly Spector never released his.
“It’s My Party” hit No. 1 within four weeks and kicked off a string of Jones-produced hits for the singer, including a follow-up response song, “Judy’s Turn to Cry.” Fun fact: Lyricist Seymour Gottlieb got his inspiration when his daughter burst into tears before her Sweet 16 party, but not because of a fickle boyfriend. She was upset that her grandparents had been invited.
The first to record the song was Helen Shapiro, a British teenager who, like Amy Winehouse decades later, sounded far older than her years – she was only 14 when she had her first hits in the UK in 1961. When she toured Britain in 1963 the Beatles were among her supporting acts. She was all of 16 when she cut “It’s My Party” during a recording session in Nashville, but her version wasn’t released as a single and by the time her “Helen in Nashville” LP came out people thought she was just covering Gore. Shapiro’s version doesn’t work as well as Gore’s because she sounds too experienced to be blindsided by a cad.
