April Lawton (July 30, 1948 – November 23, 2006) was a guitarist and composer who rose to some prominence in the early to mid-1970s as a member of the band

Ramatam Ramatam was a 1970s rock band featuring Mike Pinera on guitar and vocals, April Lawton on lead guitar, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. Ramatam was notable for having Lawton, a female lead guitarist. Tom Dowd produced their self-titled debut album i ...

, which also included at one time former

Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly was an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal m ...

guitarist

Mike Pinera Carlos Michael Pinera (September 29, 1948 – November 20, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer who started professionally in the late 1960s with the group Blues Image, which had a number 4 hit in 1970 with their song ...

and the former

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

drummer

Mitch Mitchell John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard (mag ...

, as well as Russ Smith (bass, vocals), and Tommy Sullivan (keyboards, reeds, vocals). Her playing style was a mix of

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, Hendrix, and

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz and rock music, rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K. (band), U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerl ...

. Lawton gave no interviews, refused to discuss her past, and she was rumoured to be

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

—rumours confirmed by her friend, Fanny guitarist

June Millington June Elizabeth Millington (born April 14, 1948) is a Filipina-American guitarist, songwriter, producer, educator, and actress. Millington was the founder of the music groups the Svelts and Wild Honey, before becoming co-founder and lead guitar ...

, in a 2010 interview for GuitarGearHeads. Singer

Dee Snider Daniel "Dee" SniderTayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> (born March 15, 1955) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter o ...

claims Lawton was still male while in the band Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge. Mike Pinera, former bandmate, made a statement in ''Guitar Player'' magazine regarding Lawton's gender: "I can attest to her being a woman," declares Pinera. "When I asked her about the rumors, she took my hand and gave me a 'first base' account. I know they have technology for that now, but, back then, no way!"

Gender reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

has been practised since the 1930s, and available in the United States from 1965. Social Security Administration Applications and Claims documents provided by Ancestry.com confirm that April Lawton was born Gregory R. Ferrara, male, on 30 July 1948 in Brooklyn, New York, and used this name for Social Security purposes through 1977. Subsequent Social Security records indicate a name change to April Trewhala, from 15 Feb 1978 through mid-2002. From 31 July 2002 through her death on 06 Dec 2006, Social Security records indicate she used the name April Lawton. Lawton stayed with Ramatam for two studio albums, their self-titled debut (1972, Atlantic) and ''In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns''. The group was not commercially successful, and Lawton left after the second album, forming a short-lived solo project called the April Lawton Band, which dissolved in the late 1970s. Lawton then left the music scene to concentrate on painting and graphic design. Her personal life remained very private until her death from heart failure at her home on November 23, 2006, aged 58. During the 1990s she recorded demos for a future album, and the material remains unreleased. Some brief excerpts are available at the April Lawton tribute website.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawton, April 1948 births 2006 deaths People from Farmingdale, New York American rock guitarists American LGBTQ composers American transgender women American transgender musicians Transgender women musicians Transgender composers LGBTQ people from New York (state) 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American women composers 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people