Her mezzo-soprano voice was haunting, powerful and definitely unforgettable. Her beautiful and elegant stage presence was something magical.

Originally from the south coast community of Hermitage, Laverne Squires made her musical mark in our province as one of the first to fuse local folk and rock music, introducing the combination to a new audience.

Laverne's career can be traced back to the early sixties and her singing stint with," The Ambassadors", being one of the first local females to front a rock and roll band.

Laverne stepped into the spotlight when rock and roll was entering its rebellious era. She fronted local cutting-edge bands, "Philadelphia Cream Cheese" and " Land of Mordor" with their combination of psychedelic cover tunes sprinkled with an electric take on traditional and original music.

On January 17th, 1969 as our province was hunkering down to get though yet another bone chilling winter, Laverne and Cream Cheese band mates Sandy Morris, Noel Dinn, Wayne Brace and Derek Pelly gathered around a single microphone in Memorial's Education Building to record their rendition of twenty Newfoundland folk songs. This sparce mono recording sat in a dusty tape box for fifty years only to be released posthumously as a CD in March of 2017. Entitled "Laverne Squires a Tribute" the 17-song recording resurfaced when Cream Cheese band mates wanted to recognize Laverne's musical impact on the province. They believed Laverne's talent should to be introduced to yet another generation.

Many believe that Laverne made her greatest impact on the province music history fronting "Lukey's Boat". At a time of the anti-establishment youth movement, music was being fused with psychedelic and funk, replacing melody and syrupy lyrics with bass lines and blues riffs, introducing rock music.

In 1970 "Lukey's Boat" competed in a Canada wide "Battle of Bands" that saw them take the second prize of a trip to Paris, France. However, the band stepped off the plane in London, England. High on musical hopes and dreams, the Boat's mission was to write and perform original material. Laverne gave us our very own folk-rock movement.

When Laverne performed, just like a Joplin or a Slick, she demanded your total attention. She dragged local youth into this new music and she did it with a strong, haunting elegant respectful presence. It would be some local fans first exposure to "live" folk rock music.

And then as if she had no more to give, Laverne stepped back from that spotlight. In later years she performed sparingly with her bands " Heavy Weather" and " Stone Arc". But her passion for local folk music never waned. The Peacock and Karpeles song collections were her close musical friends.

Sadly, on July 14th, 2016 Laverne passed away at the age of 69 leaving to mourn three daughters and a very large circle of musical friends and fans.

Some say her talent has never been matched.