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Avril Lavigne
Lavigne at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards red carpet.
Background information
Birth name	Avril Ramona Lavigne
Born	September 27, 1984 (1984-09-27) (age 25)
Origin	Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Pop rock1 Pop punk23
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, rhythm guitarist, actress, model, fashion designer
Instruments	Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, drums
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Arista (2002–2005) RCA (2006–present)
Associated acts	Evan Taubenfeld, Deryck Whibley
Website	www.avrillavigne.com
Notable instruments
Squier Signature Telecaster model

Avril Ramona Lavigne (pronounced /ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and occasional actress. Lavigne has sold more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide.^{4unreliable source?} She is currently one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the United States, with over 10 million copies certified by the Recording Industry Association of America.⁵ Billboard named Lavigne the #10 pop artist of the 2000s as well as the 28th overall best act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity in the USA.⁶⁷

Lavigne broke into the recording industry with her debut album, Let Go, released in 2002. As of 2009, over 16 million copies were sold worldwide, more than 6 million of which were sold in the United States. Her second and third albums, Under My Skin and The Best Damn Thing, reached number one on the Global charts. Lavigne has scored five number-one singles worldwide, including "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm With You", "My Happy Ending" and "Girlfriend". She is currently working on her fourth studio album, due in June 2010.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Music career 2.1 Let Go 2.2 Under My Skin 2.3 The Best Damn Thing 2.4 Fourth studio album 3 Other work 3.1 Film career 3.2 Entrepreneurship 3.3 Philanthropy 3.4 Publication 4 Personal life 5 Backing band 6 Discography 7 Filmography 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

Early years

Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Judith-Rosanne "Judy" (née Loshaw) and Jean-Claude Lavigne. Lavigne's father is of French Canadian descent,⁸ and named her Avril after the month "April" in French.⁹ She has an older brother, Matthew, and a younger sister, Michelle.¹⁰ Lavigne's mother was the first to spot young Lavigne's talent. A daughter of a working-class family,¹¹ Lavigne, at the age of two, began singing church songs along with her mother. The family moved to Napanee, Ontario, when Lavigne was five years old.

In 1998, Lavigne won a competition to sing with fellow Canadian singer Shania Twain on her first major concert tour. She appeared alongside Twain at her concert in Ottawa, appearing on stage to sing "What Made You Say That". She was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston, Ontario.⁹ During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folk singer Steve Medd, who invited her to contribute vocals on his song, "Touch the Sky", for his 1999 album, Quinte Spirit. She later sang on "Temple of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his follow up 2000 album, My Window to You.⁹

Music career

In November 2000,^[A]12 Lavigne was signed by Ken Krongard, an A&R representative to Arista Records, who invited the head of Arista, Antonio "L.A." Reid, to hear her sing at the Manhattan studio of producer Peter Zizzo.⁹¹³ Signed as a singer, Lavigne was pitched with songs written by others. However, she dismissed them, insisting she wanted to write herself. For a year, Lavigne and Arista had conflicts in musical direction. She collaborated with the production team The Matrix, and the ensuing album became Let Go.¹⁴

Because her songs have evolved, covering a variety of styles of music, Lavigne is not easily defined by only a few genres. Her music has been described as rock,¹⁵ pop rock,¹² alternative rock,²¹⁵¹⁶ pop,¹⁵ pop punk,²³ alternative pop,¹⁵ post-grunge,²¹⁶ teen pop,¹⁵ and powerpop.¹⁷

Lavigne's influences are varied, and include Courtney Love,¹⁸ Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, and Janis Joplin.¹⁹

Let Go

Lavigne released her debut album, Let Go, on June 4, 2002 in the United States, where it reached number two. It peaked at number one in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This made Lavigne, at 17, the youngest female soloist to have a number-one album in the United Kingdom until that time.²⁰ By the end of 2002, the album was certified four-times platinum by the RIAA, making her the best-selling female artist of 2002 and Let Go as the top-selling debut of the year.²¹ By May 2003, Let Go had accumulated over 1,000,000 sales in Canada, receiving a diamond certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association.²² As of 2009, the album has sold over 16 million units worldwide.²³ RIAA has certified the album six-times platinum, denoting shipments of over six million units in the US.²⁴

Lavigne's debut single and the album's lead single, "Complicated", went to number one in Australia and number two in the United States. "Complicated" was one of the best-selling Canadian singles of 2002. "Complicated" was also featured on the teen television show, Dawson's Creek. Subsequent singles "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm With You" reached the top ten in the United States.²⁵ Thanks to the big success of her first three singles, Lavigne was the second artist in history to have three #1 songs from a debut album on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40.²⁶ Lavigne was named Best New Artist at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, won four Juno Awards in 2003 out of six nominations, received a World Music Award for "World's Best-Selling Canadian Singer", and was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Complicated" (2003) and "I'm With You" (2004).²⁷²⁸²⁹

In 2002, Lavigne made a cameo appearance in the music video to "Hundred Million" by the pop-punk band Treble Charger.³⁰

In March 2003, Lavigne posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine³¹ and, later in May,³² performed "Fuel" during MTV's Icon tribute to Metallica.³³ Lavigne covered Green Day's "Basket Case" during her first headlining tour, the Try To Shut Me Up Tour.³⁴

Under My Skin

Lavigne co-wrote "Breakaway" with Matthew Gerard, and was recorded by Kelly Clarkson for the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.³⁵ "Breakaway" was later included on Clarkson's second album, Breakaway, and released as the album's lead single. She covered The Goo Goo Dolls' mega-hit "Iris", performed with the band's lead singer John Rzeznik at Fashion Rocks ³⁶³⁷ and posed for the cover of Maxim magazine in October 2004.³⁸ She also recorded the theme song for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.³⁹

Lavigne's second studio album, Under My Skin, was released on May 25, 2004, debuting at number one in several countries, including Australia, Mexico, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.⁴⁰ The album has sold more than 10 million copies. Lavigne wrote most of the album's tracks with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. Kreviazuk's husband, Our Lady Peace front man Raine Maida, co-produced the album with Butch Walker and Don Gilmore. Lavigne went on a "Live and by Surprise" twenty-one city mall-tour in the U.S. and Canada to promote the album, each performance consisted of a short live acoustic set of songs from the new album. She was accompanied by her guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld, by the end of 2004 and during a whole year in 2005 Lavigne embarked into her first world tour the "Bonez Tour" which visited almost every continent around the world.

"Don't Tell Me" the first single of the album went to number one in Argentina and Mexico, top five in the UK and Canada, and top ten in Australia and Brazil. "My Happy Ending", the album's lead single, went to number one in Mexico, top five in the UK and Australia, In the United States it reached the top ten of Billboard Hot 100 and went to #1 in the U.S. Mainstream Top 40, making it her fourth-biggest hit there. Third single "Nobody's Home" did not make the top 40 in the U.S., and it only went to number one in Mexico and Argentina. The fourth single from the album, "He Wasn't", reached top 40 positions in the UK and Australia, and was not released in the U.S.⁴¹ "Fall to Pieces" was released as the final single from the album, but did not do as well as previous singles.

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 "Artist of the Year". She won the award for "Favorite Female Singer" at the eighteenth Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards,⁴² and was nominated in every MTV Award show shown around the world.

The Best Damn Thing

Lavigne represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, performing her song "Who Knows" during the eight minutes of the Vancouver 2010 portion.⁴³

While Lavigne was in the studio in 2006 for her third studio album, Fox Entertainment Group approached her to write a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 fantasy-adventure film Eragon. She wrote and recorded two "ballad-type" songs, one of which "Keep Holding On" ended up being used for the film. Lavigne admitted that writing the song was challenging, making sure it flows along with the film. She, however, noted that "Keep Holding On" was not indicative of what the next album would be.⁴⁴ The song, which later appeared on the album, debuted on radio on November 20, 2006, and later released for digital download on November 28.⁴⁵⁴⁶

Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing, was released on April 17, 2007. Lavigne undertook a small tour to promote the album. Its lead single, "Girlfriend", topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week The Best Damn Thing debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. "Girlfriend" was Lavigne's first single to have reached number one in Billboard,⁴⁷. The single was a worldwide hit: it also went to number one in Australia, Canada, Japan, and Italy and number two in the UK and France. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ranked "Girlfriend" as 2007's most-downloaded track worldwide, selling 7.3 million copies in eight different languages.^[B]4 In December 2007, Lavigne, with annual earnings of $12 million, was ranked number eight in the Forbes "Top 20 Earners Under 25".⁴⁸ "When You're Gone", the second single, went to number three in the UK, the top five in Australia and Italy, the top ten in Canada and was very close to reaching the top twenty in the United States. "Hot" was the third single and has been Lavigne's least successful single in the U.S, charting only at number 95. In Canada it made the top ten, and in Australia the top 20. The album has sold 6 million copies worldwide.

During this era Lavigne won virtually every award she was nominated for, including two World Music Awards for "World's Best-Selling Canadian Artist" and "World's Best Pop/Rock Female Artist" , she took her first two MTV Europe Music Awards, received one Teen Choice Awards for "Summer Single" and got nominated for five Juno Awards.

In March 2008, Lavigne undertook a world tour named "The Best Damn Tour" to support the album. In mid-August 2008, Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, attempted to ban Lavigne's show in Kuala Lumpur, judging her stage moves "too sexy". Her concert slated August 29 was deemed promoting wrong values ahead of Malaysia's independence day on August 31.⁴⁹ On August 21, 2008, MTV reported that the concert had been approved by the Malaysian government.⁵⁰

The hits "Complicated" and "Girlfriend" also ranked the Hot 100 Singles of the decade at #83 and #94, respectively.⁵¹⁵²

Fourth studio album

“Black Star,” originally a piano jingle written to promote her fragrance of the same name, launched the recording process of Lavigne's fourth studio album in November 2008. By July 2009, nine tracks had been recorded.⁵³

In January 2010, the song "Alice", written and recorded by Lavigne and produced by Butch Walker, was released as the lead single from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland soundtrack, Almost Alice.⁵⁴

Lavigne's fourth studio album is scheduled for release in June 2010, and the first single will be released in April.⁵³⁵⁵ The album is expected to be a return to Lavigne's older musical style and may be largely acoustic.⁵⁶

Tracks on the forthcoming album include, "Everybody Hurts," "Black Star," "Fine," "Gone" and "Darlin," the latter being the second song Lavigne wrote as a 15-year-old while living in Napanee, Ontario. Lavigne collaborated with Butch Walker, Evan Taubenfield, Matt Beckley and her ex-husband Whibley.⁵⁷

Lavigne was one of several artists who contributed their voice to a cover of the song "Wavin' Flag" by singer K'naan as a benefit single to raise money for several charity organizations related to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.⁵⁸

Other work

Film career

Lavigne had a cameo in the film Going the Distance and also appeared in an episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, performing "Sk8er Boi" with her band, but her feature film debut was in the 2006 animated film Over the Hedge, which is based on the comic strip of same name. She voiced the character Heather, a Virginia Opossum.

Lavigne acted in the Richard Gere film The Flock,⁵⁹ as the girlfriend of a crime suspect, and also appeared in the film Fast Food Nation, based on the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.

In August 2006, Canadian Business magazine ranked her the seventh top Canadian actor dominating in Hollywood in their second-annual ranking Celebrity Power List. She is ranked second with the most web hits, and sixth in TV mentions.⁶⁰

Entrepreneurship

In July 2008, Lavigne launched the clothing line Abbey Dawn, featuring back-to-school collection.⁴ It is produced by Kohl's, which is the brand's exclusive US retailer.⁶¹⁶² Named after Lavigne's childhood nickname, Abbey, used as an alias when she started her recording career, Lavigne designs for the company and concepts emanate from her.⁶¹⁶² Kohl's describe Abbey Dawn as a "juniors lifestyle brand",⁴ which includes apparel and jewelry with skull and zebra patterns similar to the artwork featured on The Best Damn Thing.⁶³ Lavigne wore some of the clothes in her line at various concerts before the launch. The designs were also featured on the internet game Stardoll, where figures can be dressed up as Avril Lavigne.⁶⁴ On September 14, 2009, Lavigne took her latest collection for her clothing line 'Abbey Dawn' to be a part of the New York Fashion Week one of the most important fashion shows around the world, designer Tommy Hilfiger, olmypic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin and friend heiress Nicky Hilton were there to check out and support Avril's threads.

Lavigne released her first fragrance called Black Star, created by Procter & Gamble Prestige Products. The fragrance was announced via Lavigne's official website on March 7, 2009. Black Star, which contains notes of pink hibiscus, black plum and dark chocolate, released in summer 2009 in Europe, and later in America and Canada.⁶⁵⁶⁶ It's expected to generate $50 million in sales.⁶⁷

By the end of 2008 Lavigne signed contract with Canon Canada and appear as image of the brand on campaigns and publicity commercials promoting the latest line of cameras as well a full range of products.⁶⁸⁶⁹ One year later in 2009 she exteded her partnership with Canon to now be part of Asia's campaign beginning with a new commercial.⁷⁰⁷¹

Philanthropy

Lavigne has been involved in a number of charitable activities, such as Make Some Noise, Amnesty International, Erase MS, AmericanCPR.org, Camp Will-a-Way, Music Clearing Minefields, U.S. Campaign for Burma, Make-a-Wish Foundation and War Child. She has also appeared in ALDO ads with YouthAIDS to raise money to educate people worldwide about HIV/AIDS. Lavigne took part of the Unite Against Aids concert presented by ALDO in support of Unicef on November 28 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec Canada.⁷²

Lavigne worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for her 2005 east coast tour.⁷³ She covered "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" for War Child's Peace Songs compilation. Lavigne recorded a cover of the John Lennon song "Imagine" as her contribution to the compilation album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. Released on June 12, 2007, the album was produced to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur.⁷⁴

Before closing the decade on December 5, 2009 Lavigne return on stage after more than a year performing in Mexico City her two biggest hits of the 2000s "Complicated" and "Girlfriend" in an acoustic version among Evan Taubenfeld and Jim (band member) during the biggest charity event of Latin America "Teleton".⁷⁵ She stated, "Knowledge is power. Learn about the world outside of your own and try and do whatever you can to give back."⁷⁶

Publication

Lavigne has been featured in a comic series Avril Lavigne's Make 5 Wishes. She stars as herself, a pop star who is idolized by the protagonist of the story.⁷⁷

Personal life

In the January 2003 issue of Seventeen magazine, she admitted to "snagging a bite of Matt's cheeseburgers every now and again." She said also she prefers not to eat meat, but will not say she is a vegetarian "in case anyone caught her eating meat".⁷⁸

Lavigne said in a 2004 interview that her favourite party song was Hey Ya, by Outkast. She likes listening to Third Eye Blind, Oasis, Marilyn Manson, System of a Down and Blink-182, and loves especially the track "I Miss You". Asked what she would put on a mix tape to a boy she liked, she answered: "Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls. I'd put a few Coldplay and Oasis songs. Radiohead - The Bends is one of my favorite albums".⁷⁹

Lavigne has a star tattooed on the inside of her left wrist that matches the style of the one used for her first album artwork. It was created at the same time as friend and musical associate Ben Moody's identical tattoo.⁸⁰ In late 2004, she had a small pink heart-shaped tattoo featuring the letter 'D' applied to her right wrist, which represents her now separated husband Deryck Whibley,⁸¹ a fellow Canadian singer who is the lead singer/guitarist of punk band Sum 41. They began dating in February 2004 and on June 27, 2005, Lavigne and Whibley became engaged.⁸² Whibley proposed to Lavigne by surprising her with a trip to Venice, a gondola ride, and then a romantic picnic.⁸²

The couple married in a Catholic ceremony attended by about 110 guests on July 15, 2006, at a private estate in Montecito, California.⁸³ When asked if they were ready for kids the couple said "not right now but somewhere down the road".⁸⁴⁸⁵

It was announced on September 17, 2009, that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow.⁸⁶ On October 9, 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce.⁸⁷

Backing band

Current members Al Berry – bass guitar, backing vocals (2007–present) Rodney Howard – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2007–present) Steve Ferlazzo – electronic keyboard, backing vocals (2007–present) Jim McGorman – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007–present) Steve Fekete – lead guitar, backing vocals (2008–present) Sofia Toufa – backing vocals, dancer (2007–present) Lindsay Bluafarb – backing vocals, dancer (2007–present)

Past members Mark Spicoluk – bass guitar, backing vocals (April–September 2002) Jesse Colburn – rhythm guitar (2002–January 2004) Evan Taubenfeld – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–September 2004) Craig Wood – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, vocals (2004–January 2007) Matt Brann – drums, percussion, vocals on (2002–February 2007) Charlie Moniz – bass guitar (2002–February 2007) Devin Bronson – lead guitar, backing vocals (2004–08)

Discography

Studio Albums Let Go (2002) Under My Skin (2004) The Best Damn Thing (2007)

DVDs My World (2003) Live at Budokan (2005) Live in Toronto (2008)

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Herself	Television episode (Bada-Ping!) Guest-star; performed "Sk8er Boi"
2004	Going the Distance	Herself	Cameo; performed "Losing Grip"
	Saturday Night Live	Herself	performed
	MADtv	Herself	Cameo; performed
2006	Fast Food Nation	Alice	College activist
	Over the Hedge	Heather	Voice
2007	The Flock	Beatrice Bell	Suspect's Girlfriend
2010	American Idol	Herself	Guest judge for "Auditions: Los Angeles"

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Avril Lavigne

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Avril Lavigne

• Official site
• Avril Lavigne at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Avril Lavigne Studio albums Let Go · Under My Skin · The Best Damn Thing EPs Angus Drive · Live Acoustic · Control Room DVDs My World  · Live at Budokan · Live in Toronto Films and television Sabrina, the Teenage Witch · Going the Distance · Fast Food Nation · Over the Hedge · The Flock Tours Try To Shut Me Up Tour (2003) · Mall Tour (2004) · Bonez Tour (2004/2005) · Promotional Tour (2007) · The Best Damn Tour (2008) Related articles Discography · Awards and nominations · Abbey Dawn · Black Star · Make 5 Wishes · Deryck Whibley · "Breakaway" · "All Because of You"  · "I Will Be"  · "I Don't Wanna"

v • d • e Avril Lavigne singles Let Go "Complicated" · "Sk8er Boi" · "I'm With You" · "Losing Grip" Under My Skin "Don't Tell Me" · "My Happy Ending" · "Nobody's Home" · "He Wasn't" The Best Damn Thing "Girlfriend" · "When You're Gone" · "Hot" · "The Best Damn Thing" Soundtrack singles "Keep Holding On" · "Alice" Promotional singles "Unwanted" · "Mobile" · "Take Me Away" · "Fall to Pieces" · "Innocence" Featured singles "Wavin' Flag"

Persondata
NAME	Lavigne, Avril
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Avril Ramona Lavigne
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Canadian singer
DATE OF BIRTH	September 27, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH	Belleville, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH