April Lawton

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April Lawton was a guitarist, singer, and composer who rose to some prominence in the early to mid 1970s as a member of the band Ramatam, which also included former Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera and former Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell. She was hailed as the female Jimi Hendrix by many, and her style was an inimitable mix of Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Alan Holdsworth. Indeed she was so virtuosic that many believed no woman could play like this. To this end, a rumor started to spread that she was actually a transsexual. Her husband advises that those rumors are "total garbage" and were started by less talented male guitarists.

Lawton stayed with Ramatam for two studio albums, their self-titled debut and In April Came the Dawning of the Suns. The group unfortunately never lived up to its promise either commercially or musically. She left the group after the second album, forming a short lived solo project entitled The April Lawton Band, which dissolved in the late 1970s, disappearing from the music scene almost entirely to concentrate on painting and graphic design. Her personal life remained very private up to the time of her death.

During the 1990s she recorded demos for a future album, and the material currently remains unreleased.

Lawton passed away due to heart failure at her home in November 23, 2006. She was 58 years old.