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.
