On this date in 1963, 16 year-old LESLEY GORE recorded her breakthrough hit, IT'S MY PARTY (March 30th 1963). NOTE: The video here is Lesley singing the song followed by SHE'S A FOOL on the Ed Sullivan show in 1963. Recorded by multiple artists since the 1960s, in 1963, American singer Lesley Gore's version of IT'S MY PARTY hit number one on the pop and rhythm and blues charts in the United States. It was the first hit single for producer Quincy Jones. The song lyrically portrayed the discomfort of a teenage girl at her birthday party when her boyfriend Johnny disappears, only to return in the company of Judy, another girl, who is "wearing his ring," to indicate he has replaced the birthday girl as his love interest. The song's chorus, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to... You would cry too if it happened to you!" became a part of American pop cultural language as a phrase used to describe being utterly humiliated and miserable during an event that is supposed to be a happy occasion. Allmusic critic Jason Ankeny wrote of the song, "'It's My Party' remains one of the most vivid evocations of adolescent heartbreak ever waxed—Quincy Jones produced the record, although you'd swear it was Aaron Spelling instead." Gore was 16 when she recorded this song, which led the media to call her "The Teen Queen." She took some voice lessons in New York City and recorded some piano demos with her instructor, which somehow got to Quincy Jones - at the time an up-and-coming producer. Jones liked what he heard and decided to record her. In late February 1963, he brought a stack of demo tapes to her house and they spent an afternoon listening to one after another. The only one they both liked was "It's My Party," so they decided to record it. Jones booked a standard 3-hour session at Bell Studios in New York City, and had Paul Anka write two more songs for Gore to record. They completed all three at the session on March 30, and Gore went back to ordinary teenage life. Just six days later, "Party" was released as Gore's first single, and she heard it on the radio for the first time. On June 1 the song went to #1, making her teenage life far less ordinary The song was written by freelance song writer Seymour Gottlieb with John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner, who were all staff writers employed at the Aaron Schroeder Music firm. Gottlieb's lyrics were based on actual events relating to his daughter Judy's sweet 16 party. Judy recalled to the New York Daily News in 2015. "My parents insisted that my grandparents had to be invited. I of course, being a bratty teenager, said I didn't want them there. I burst into tears, and my father said, 'Don't cry.'" She responded by exclaiming: "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to."