Biografía

She died of lung cancer at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, NYC. She was diagnosed with a tumor on her spine in January 2015.

Inspired a storyline for the movie Grace of My Heart (1996) in which a 1960s bubble-gum singer is shown to be a closet lesbian. Coincidentally, Lesley helped with music for the movie, and in the movie the closet lesbian singer records a song Lesley herself recorded, "Secret Love".

When she was 11 years old her parents took her to her first Broadway musical, "My Fair Lady". She loved it so much that she asked her parents to see it again and again.

She was the only female solo act to perform on the star-studded T.A.M.I. show (1964), one of the first big rock venues of the 1960s. Her million-seller "You Don't Own Me", which she performed on that show, predated the era of Women's lib. That song has gained a new life recently, with its inclusion in a women's sportswear commercial.

Discovered by producer Quincy Jones while singing at a hotel in Manhattan. He went on to produce her most successful recordings, including "It's My Party", which spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart and three weeks on its R&B chart (USA) in June 1963.