Lori Burton

Lori Burton (born Dolores Diana Squeglia, September 30, 1940 - May 20, 2021) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Biography She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and studied music at the University of Hartford before marrying recording engineer and later record producer Roy Cicala. In the mid-1960s she adopted the stage name Lori Burton (the surname taken from that of popular actor Richard Burton),

Burton and Sawyer also wrote and recorded together as The Whyte Boots, with Burton as lead singer, releasing the teenage tragedy record "Nightmare", in which two girls fight to the death over a boy, in 1966. Writer Richie Unterberger described the record as "one of the most accurate approximations of the Shangri-Las ever recorded". Their record company, Philips, promoted the act as a trio of female singers, none of whom actually appeared on the recordings. According to the album's original liner notes, Burton's demo recordings were heard by Mercury Records president Irving Green, who encouraged her to release the album under her own name.

Burton and Sawyer then auditioned for Holland, Dozier and Holland who had them signed to Motown as a songwriting partnership, but after a few months Burton decided to end the arrangement while Sawyer continued to work at Motown. Lori and Roy Cicala divorced in 1979.