Avril Lavigne, actually Avril Ramona Lavigne, was born on September 27,
1984. Avril Lavigne is a Canadian pop punk singer/songwriter and actress
who is well known for her "skater punk" persona. Her two albums to
date, Let Go (2002) and Under My Skin (2004), have topped the charts in
numerous countries. Although her name is of French origin, she herself
does not speak French and her name is pronounced in an anglicized way,
more or less as "La-veen" (although, actual pronunciation should be
"La-Vine"). Her first name, Avril, means "April" in French and is
pronounced "Av-reel" (anglicized "Ahv-ril").
Born in Belleville, Ontario to conservative Franco-Ontarian
Christian parents John and Judy Lavigne, Avril grew up in Napanee;
having moved there at the age of five. It was in Napanee that she sang
country music and in a church choir and taught herself to play guitar.
Avril Lavigne was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff
Fabri, while singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston,
Ontario. During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Avril
was spotted by Steve Medd, a local folksinger, who invited her to
perform vocals on his song Touch The Sky for his 1999 album Quinte
Spirit. Suitably impressed, he invited her back to perform vocals on
Temple Of Life and Two Rivers for his followup album, My Window To You
in 2000. By the age of sixteen, Avril Lavigne was signed by Ken
Krongard, the artists-and-repertoire (A&R) representative of Arista
Records, who invited his boss, Arista head Antonio "L.A." Reid, to hear
her sing in a New York City studio. She then completed work on her first
album. Apparently, early attempts to co-write songs for her failed to
meet her approval; and Lavigne eventually moved to Los Angeles,
California, and co-wrote her album with Clif Magness and the songwriting
team The Matrix, whose previous work included songs for Sheena Easton
and Christina Aguilera.
Avril Lavigne described her first album, Let Go, as a pop album with
"a couple of rock songs on it", and has indicated a desire to write
more rock-oriented songs in the future. It was released by Arista on
June 4, 2002 in the United States, reaching number two there and number
one in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (making Avril Lavigne
the youngest female solo act ever at the time to have a number-one album
in the UK). It was certified four times platinum less than six months
later by the RIAA, and had sold fifteen million copies worldwide as of
December 2004. Four singles from the album were released, all of them
hits. "Complicated" went to number one in Australia while reaching
number two on the U.S. Hot 100, and was also one of the best-selling
Canadian singles of 2002. "Sk8er Boi" reached the top ten in the U.S.
and Australia and number one in Canada, "I'm With You" reached the top
five in the U.S., while "Losing Grip" reached number one in Canada, the
top ten in Taiwan, and the top twenty in Chile.
The media have often compared Avril Avril Lavigne to Alanis
Morissette (one of her favourite artists alongside Coldplay and The Goo
Goo Dolls), who is also Canadian, as well as singer-songwriters such as
Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch, who emerged at about the same time
and were popularly credited, with Avril Lavigne, as part of a trend
towards more genuine creativity in the teen pop-music market. Avril
Lavigne was named "Best New Artist" at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards,
won four Juno Awards in 2003 (out of six nominations), a World Music
Award for World's Best-Selling Canadian Singer, and was nominated for
eight Grammy Awards. 2004 the present Avril Lavigne's second album,
Under My Skin, was released on May 25, 2004 in the U.S. and went to
number one in several countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, and
Australia.
Avril Lavigne wrote most of the album with Canadian
singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, though some tracks were co-written
by Lavigne and Ben Moody (formerly of Evanescence), Butch Walker of
Marvelous 3, and the rest with her former lead guitarist Evan
Taubenfeld. Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace Kreviazuk's husband,
co-produced the album with Butch Walker and Don Gilmore. Lead single
"Don't Tell Me" went to number one in Argentina, top five in the U.K.
and Canada, and top ten in Australia and Brazil. "My Happy Ending"
reached the top ten in the U.S., and was her third biggest hit to date
there, but third single "Nobody's Home" did not make the top forty. The
final single from the album, "He Wasn't", reached number one in Canada,
making the song her eighth number-one release since "Complicated", but
failed to make the UK top twenty and was not released in the U.S.. Avril
Lavigne won two World Music Awards in 2004 for World's Best Pop/Rock
Artist and World's Best Selling Canadian Artist. She received five Juno
Award nominations in 2005, picking up three including, Fan Choice Award,
Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. She also won the award
for Favourite Female Singer at the eighteenth Annual Nickelodeon Kids'
Choice Awards.
Avril Lavigne co-wrote a song, "Breakaway", which was recorded by
Kelly Clarkson for the soundtrack to the film The Princess Diaries 2:
Royal Engagement (2004) and was later included on Clarkson's second
album, Breakaway, being released as the album's first single. It went on
to peak at #6 in the US and provided Clarkson with a substantial hit.
One source reports that Lavigne will release a new album some time in
the spring of 2006. In a phone interview with Newsday, Avril Lavigne
said: "Don't expect the album any time soon. I'm going to get off the
road, take my time, be with my little sweetheart and have a life and
then get back to business." In a recent interview with Celebrity.com,
Lavigne said that she is in the middle of making her record. . Lavigne
is to make her film debut in the animated film Over the Hedge, which is
based on comic strip of same name, alongside William Shatner, Bruce
Willis and Gary Shandling. Avril Lavigne is also acting in the Richard
Gere film The Flock, and her third project is Fast Food Nation, based on
her favourite book. Her co-stars in the film include Patricia Arquette,
Bobby Cannavale, Ethan Hawke and Greg Kinnear. In January 2006, Lavigne
signed a contract with Ford Models.
She is appearing on the February edition of Harpers Bazaar Fashion
Magazine with a new look. She will sing at the closing ceremony of the
2006 Winter Olympics (Turin, Italy) for the eight minutes of the
Vancouver 2010 portion. Her third album is supposed to be released
during the middle of 2006. It should include collaborations with Chantal
Kreviazuk and her husband, Our Lady Peace front man Raine Maida, who
have also worked on 2004's 'Under My Skin' Lavigne's current band
consists of the following: Devin Bronson (lead guitar), Craig Wood
(rhythm guitar), Charlie Moniz (bass) and Matt Brann (drums). Departed
members from Lavigne's band consist of the following: Evan Taubenfeld
(lead guitar), Mark Spicoluk (bass, 2002) and Jesse Colburn (rhythm
guitar). In 2003, it was reported that Lavigne was romantically involved
with Colburn. Lavigne is engaged to be married to Deryck Whibley of the
pop punk band Sum 41, and Mark Spicoluk was a former member of that
band.
Avril Lavigne formerly traveled with a bag full of about thirty neck
ties. Some of them she bought, and the rest of them she took from her
father and some were sent to her by fanmail. Lavigne stopped wearing
neckties completely in 2003, as she was horrified at the constant media
references to them overshadowing her music and that she was starting a
fashion trend amongst her fans. She has a star tattooed on the inside of
her left wrist, applied at the same time as friend and musical
associate Ben Moody's identical tattoo.
In late 2004, Avril Lavigne had a small pink heart-shaped tattoo
featuring the letter 'D' applied to her right wrist thought to be a
reference to fiance Deryck Whibley. She has also bought a house with him
in Beverly Hills. In March 2004, she became involved in a celebrity
feud with Hilary Duff: Duff reportedly criticized Lavigne after she
apparently got mad at her fans for dressing like her. Duff called her
"mean-spirited" and said: "You should be happy that these people like
you and look up to you."
During an interview for a Boston radio station, Lavigne then said
that Duff was a "mommy's girl" and a "goody two-shoes". Avril Lavigne
then said to Duff (who was not present during that interview), "You can
go screw yourself". Reportedly, Avril Lavigne also said about Duff, "I'm
sure she's really nice and sweet. I'm sure she's all smiles." During
that same interview, she spotted a picture of herself and ripped it up,
allegedly saying, "I hate that fucking photo!" All this happened while
on air. According to Avril Lavigne, she had permission to take the
picture down station personnel encouraged her to take it down. She has
admitted to Rollingstone.com that she got into some fights one night.
"The other night, I got into three fights", says Lavigne. "I was at a
club and some girl was giving me attitude. She pushed me and I got her
down on the floor. Security came, and because I was on top, they threw
me out."
A profile of Avril Lavigne in The Washington Post found that, in the
flesh, her personality did not reflect her marketing, and instead found
her to be, if anything, something of a wide-eyed innocent, citing her
intending to purchase her first Ramones CD. In another interview, Avril
Lavigne listed her current listening tastes as including blink-182, Sum
41, Green Day and System of a Down. She is a vegetarian. Some members of
the old school, hardcore punk community have an intense dislike for
Lavigne and her style of music, which they believe waters down what punk
is really all about. Comments she has made, showing a lack of
knowledge/interest in the seventies punk movement and the luminaries of
that movement (Lavigne once admitted to not ever having heard of the Sex
Pistols), has led some to label her a poser. However, Avril Lavigne has
consistently stated that her music is not punk rock and that she does
not believe she is punk. Although it's constantly debated whether or not
she is punk, there have been several (and more recent) occasions where
she has stated "I'm not punk, that's a whole other world. If anything
I'm more rock or pop." Avril Lavigne has made it to the list of FHM 100
Sexiest Women in the World for three consecutive years, from 2003 to
2005. She was also included in Maxim Hot 100 for 2003 and 2005 at 92nd
and 36th spots respectively.
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