Avril Lavigne

Avril Ramona Lavigne-Whibley (born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian rock singer and musician. She has sold over twenty-six million albums worldwide. In 2006, Canadian Business Magazine ranked her the seventh most powerful Canadian in Hollywood. Although her parents are of French origins, she doesn't speak French and her name is usually pronounced in an anglicized way as "La-Veen" (in French it is commonly pronounced). Avril is French for "April", while la vigne means "the vine" or "the vineyard".
Lavigne's debut album, Let Go, was released in 2002. Her second and third albums, Under My Skin (2004) and The Best Damn Thing (2007), respectively, reached number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. Lavigne has scored three number one songs worldwide to date and a total of nine top ten hits, including "Complicated," "Sk8er Boi," "I'm with You," "My Happy Ending," "Nobody's Home," "Keep Holding On," and "Girlfriend."

Background

Avril Lavigne was born in

Belleville, Ontario, Canada, to a French-born father, John, and a Franco-Ontarian mother, Judy. Both parents are Catholic and she had a Catholic upbringing. Avril's musical talent was first spotted at the age of two when her mother says Avril began singing along with her on church songs. 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. During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folk singer Steve Medd (a relation of the influential Canadian journalist, Ben Medd), who invited her to sing on his song "Touch the Sky" for his 1999 album Quinte Spirit. She also sang on "Temple of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his follow up album, My Window to You, in 2000.
At the age of sixteen she was signed by Ken Krongard, the artists-and-repertoire (A&R) representative of Arista Records, who invited the head of Arista, Antonio "L.A." Reid, to hear her sing at the New York City studio of producer Peter Zizzo. She then completed work on her first album.

Music career

Let Go (2002–2004)

Let Go was released on June 4, 2002 in the United States, reaching number two there and number one in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to have a number-one album in the UK up until that time.
Just over one month after its release, "Let Go" reached multi-platinum status in late-August, and was certified triple platinum two weeks after. Before the end of 2002, just six months after its debut, it was certified four times platinum by the RIAA. It sold a total of 13,197,000 copies worldwide. It was the best selling album of the year for a female artist and for a debut album in 2002.
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 "Song of the Year" for "Complicated" and "Best New Artist".

Under My Skin (2004–2005)

Lavigne's second album,

Under My Skin, was released on May 25, 2004, in the U.S. It debuted at number one in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong and sold more than 380,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week. Lavigne wrote most of the album with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, though some tracks were co-written by Ben Moody (formerly of Evanescence), Butch Walker of Marvellous 3, and her former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. Kreviazuk's husband, Our Lady Peace front man Raine Maida, co-produced the album with Butch Walker and Don Gilmore.
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 won the award for "Favourite Female Singer" at the eighteenth Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Lavigne co-wrote "Breakaway" with Matthew Gerard, which was recorded by Kelly Clarkson for the soundtrack to the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). "Breakaway" was later included on Clarkson's second album, Breakaway, being released as the album's first single. The song peaked inside the U.S. top ten and provided Clarkson with a substantial hit.
Lavigne was touring throughout most of 2005, and pursuing her acting and modelling careers. She 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.

The Best Damn Thing (2006–present

Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing, was released on April 17, 2007 and debuted at number one in the U.S. The album was produced by Dr. Luke, Lavigne's husband Deryck Whibley, Rob Cavallo, Butch Walker and Lavigne. Travis Barker recorded drums for the record. The first single from the album was "Girlfriend", which became Lavigne's first single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Girlfriend has been performed in many places including at the Logies in Australia. It is now also available in many languages. On Ryan Seacrest's radio show Lavigne said that "When You're Gone" would be the second single.
Lavigne has been doing a small tour to promote The Best Damn Thing, with tickets available only to members of her fan club. She began the tour in Calgary, Alberta, and played for a crowd of around two hundred. This show was aired on television on April 2, 2007, on the CBC Network.
Avril Lavigne also recorded a cover for the song 'Imagine', by John Lennon, as her collaboration on the album "Instant Karma: Save Darfur".

Personal life

It has been revealed that Lavigne is a vegetarian. In the January 2003 issue of

Seventeen magazine, she admitted to "snagging a bite of Matt's cheeseburgers every now and again." Also in a recent interview, she said she prefers not to eat meat, but will not say she's a vegetarian "in case anyone caught her eating meat". In an interview with the magazine live, it is stated: "It goes without saying that Lavigne is a vegetarian".
As a teenager she would hang out at the La Pizzeria restaurant in Napanee, Ontario. In her Under My Skin Bonez Documentary, she has stated that pizza with olive toppings is her favourite food, although she doesn't eat it too much because pizza is detrimental to her voice. Since her rise to fame, the restaurant has named a pizza after Lavigne that contains her favourite toppings and there is a guest book for fans to sign that Lavigne picks up when she visits friends and family in her home town.
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. In late 2004, she had a small pink heart-shaped tattoo featuring the letter 'D' applied to her right wrist — thought to be a reference to husband Deryck Whibley, with whom she has bought a house in Bel-Air, previously owned by another famous couple: Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler.
Lavigne was romantically linked to her former guitarist Jesse Colburn, but despite rumors, she did not have a relationship with another former guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld. However, Taubenfeld still considers Lavigne his "dearest friend in the whole world" as said on a recent Q&A on his band's official website. In a J-14 magazine from 2004, she talks about her first kiss being when she was fourteen years old.
In February 2004, she began dating fellow Canadian singer Deryck Whibley, the lead singer/guitarist of pop punk band Sum 41. On June 27, 2005, Lavigne and Whibley became engaged. Whibley proposed to Lavigne by surprising her with a trip to Venice, a gondola ride, and then a romantic picnic.
The couple married in a Catholic ceremony attended by about 100 guests on July 15, 2006 at a private estate in the California coastal city of Montecito. When asked if they were ready for kids the couple said "not right now but somewhere down the road."

Fan's web link : www.avrillavigne.com