Lee Lawrence

b. Leon Siroto, c.1921, Salford, Lancashire, England, d. February 1961, USA. A popular ballad singer in Britain during the 50s, with a fine tenor voice, rivalling that of David Whitfield. Both his parents were with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and when he was 16, young Lawrence went to Italy to study opera for three years. He returned to England at the outbreak of World War II, and enlisted in the Royal Tank Regiment. After the war, he continued singing with ENSA before being noticed by BBC producer Roy Spear. He made his radio debut in Spear's Beginners Please, and continued ...