Avril Lavigne Biography

Canadian singer and songwriter renowned as Avril Lavigne is actually born Avril Ramona Lavigne in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, on September 27, 1984, to Judy and John Lavigne, whom both are French-Canadians. She is the mid child in the family, in which she has an older brother, Matthew and a younger sister, Michelle, who once appeared in her 'SK8R BOI' Video. During her childhood, Avril grew up singing country music and in a church choir and taught herself guitar since her 12-year-age. Later she explored her skill by joining many talent shows. There she broke out of her hometown Napanee, Ontario, when she was 16 years old. Early on her life, Avril had started to write her own songs, which she wrote every time she got home and were about what happened to her that day. Besides, she had also started skateboarding ever since she was 14 years old.

First sharpen her music talent in the church choir and country music competitions, Avril finally won a competition in a radio contest that allowed her to travel to Ontario and sing with Country legend Shania Twain. Over the next couple of years she tried to make the US recording industry to take
notice on her music, but it wasn't until she was in New York at age 16 that she was finally signed to Arista records. Things began when an Arista employee was so impressed with her music, because of which he insisted that he returned with his CEO to hear Avril sing. Once signed to the major label, she immediately dropped out of high school after 11th grade and moved to New York to begin work on her debut album. Unfortunately, it didn't work as the way she hoped. Her time in New York was short-lived as she failed to meet her approval, and eventually moved to Los Angeles, California. From there, Avril eventually moved to the west coast to work with producer/songwriter Cliff Magness, with whose secured input, the two of them worked on compositions for her debut record with Avril herself playing a key role in the songwriting process. The fruit of her partnership and hard work with Cliff firstly apparent in early 2002 when her debut single ''Complicated'' was released in North America.

In succession, Avril's first album "Let Go" was released by Arista on June 4, 2002, and immediately went to number one in Canada and high
into the Billboard top 40 and was certified "Quadruple Platinum" less than six months later by the Recording Industry Association of America. Along with her debut album success, Avril was named "Best New Artist" at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards and at the 2003 Juno Awards, where she led all musicians with six nominations, winning four Junos mainly for: Single of the Year ("Complicated"); Album of the Year ("Let Go"); New Artist of the Year; and Pop Album of the Year. Moreover, she was also nominated for eight Grammy Awards but has not won any to date. Anyway, this debut album had already spawned several hit singles in various parts of the world, including "Complicated" which went to #1 on the US adult charts and in Australia while reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100; "Sk8er Boi" (Skater Boy) that went top 10 in the US and Australia and #1 in Canada; "I'm With You" which reached #1 on the US and world adult charts (based on the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and Australia), and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100; and "Losing Grip" which reached #1 in Canada, #10 Taiwan, #20 Chile and top 50 on a composite European chart.

Following the debut album's success and her fame, Avril was often compared to Alanis Morissette, Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch, who emerged at about the same time and were popularly credited. Apart from the critics, Avril herself tend to describe her first album 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. Thus, she started working on her next album and wrote most of the lyrics in it with the help of Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. To add, she also co-wrote one track, "Nobody's Home", with Ben Moody, formerly of Evanescence, and the rest with her former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. In an attempt to make her second album "Under My Skin" a success, Avril worked together with three producers, notably Butch Walker of Marvelous 3; Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace who is also Kreviazuk's husband; and Don Gilmore, who has produced Good Charlotte and Linkin Park. And so "Under My Skin" was done and was released on May 25, 2004. Approvingly, this album was a success, went to #1 around the world, notably in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia and on the Billboard Internet charts.

The first single of "Under My Skin" titled "Don't Tell Me," which was released earlier, had gone to #1 in Argentina, top 5 in the UK and Canada, and top 10 in Australia, Brazil and a European composite chart (June, 2004). In succession to that, the album's second single "My Happy Ending" also reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her third biggest hit to date. Amid this success, Avril made the music video to the track in actor/singer Eric West's neighborhood. Fortuitously, the album's third single "Nobody's Home", only managed to reach #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, but due to the fans and people's acceptance for the song, it easily became a hit. And so did with its fourth single "He Wasn't" had currently climbed charts too. As a result of this album success, Avril could favorably win a World Music Award in 2004 for favorite pop/rock artist, and also, once again lead all the Juno nominees at the 2005 Juno Awards with five nominations, picking up three, adding to her previous four, making seven. In addition to those awards mentioned, Avril also had the many others, including 3 MTV Asia Awards for favorite female artist, favorite breakthrough artist & style (2003); 4 Juno Awards for Single of the Year ("Complicated"), Album of the Year ("Let Go"), New Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year; Favorite Female Singer at the 18th Annual Kid's Choice Awards (April 2005); and 3 Juno Awards, mainly for Fan Choice Award, Artist of the Year, and Pop Album of the Year ("Under My Skin") in the year of 2005. Some other awards she got for her personal appearances among others were; made the list of FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2003 and the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2004.

Beyond her solo music career, Avril has a band consists of Devin Bronson on lead guitar, Craig Wood on rhythm guitar, Charlie Moniz on bass, and Matt Brann on drums. As for her personal life, Avril once reported (2003) to date the then band member Jessie Colburn, before then dating Deryck Whibley from the pop punk band Sum 41 for whom, in late 2004, the cute singer had a small pink heart-shaped tattoo featuring the letter 'D' applied to her right wrist. Have been together for two years and got engaged in Venice, Italy, in June 2005, the couple then tied the knot July 15th, 2006 in California with about 110 guests in attendance.

On April 17, 2007 she released third album titled "The Best Damn Thing." The first single, "Girlfriend" immediately entered Billboard 100 chart at #5 in its first week release. In this album, Avril employed a different vibe. Taking off the baggy pants, she wore a skirt and danced in the video of "Girlfriend." The change can also be seen in the concept of the songs featured in the album. "Of course, I still have my boy-bashing songs, but they're very playful. So the record is really fun and cool and different and honestly, I think it's my best record yet. I can say that with confidence," she said.

Sadly, controversy soon entailed the success. Despite marked a double-platinum single in 2007, "Girlfriend" suffered criticism for a far departure from Avril's well-liked "dark" sound. Its multi-lingual versions in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese and Mandarin were also criticized for poor accents, but the worst came in July 2007 after two songwriters sued her for plagiarism. "Girlfriend" was claimed copying the work of a 1979 song titled "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend" that was popularized by a band named The Rubinoos. Avril's team however, felt confident on "Girlfriend" originality and ruled the suing a "legal blackmail". Chantal Kreviazuk who worked in Avril's second album also added the tension after she gave an interview doubting Avril's capability of writing scores. Kreviazuk also accused Avril of using a song titled "Contagious" that she sent to her without including her name in the writing credit. Few days later, Avril responded to the two accusations by spreading the fact and defending her talent in writing on her official website