Lavigne, Avril (Singer/Songwriter)

Avril Ramona Lavigne (born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian pop singer, Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter and occasional actress who was originally known for her “skate punk” persona, but has since begun to shed that image in favour of a more sophisticated, feminine style. Her two albums, Let Go (2002) and Under My Skin (2004), topped the charts in several countries.

Although her surname is of French origin, she herself does not speak French and her name is pronounced in an anglicized way, somewhat as [ləˈviːn] (“La-veen”), rather than [laˈviːɲ]. Lavigne in French means the vine or the vineyard. Her first name, Avril, is French for April, but is also pronounced in an anglicized way as [ˈævrÉ™l] (“Av-ril”), rather than [aˈvril].It was reported by several media outlets that Avril married boyfriend Deryck Whibley, the 26-year old lead singer of the Canadian punk-rock band Sum 41, on July 15, 2006 at a private estate in Montecito, California.

Early life

Born in Belleville, Ontario, to Franco-Ontarian Roman Catholic parents John and Judy Lavigne, Avril, at age five,and sister Michelle, moved with her family to Napanee, Ontario, Canada, where she sang in a church choir and taught herself to play the guitar.

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, Avril was spotted by local folksinger Steve 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 followup album, My Window To You, in 2000.

At 16, she 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.

2002-2003

Let Go (2002)EnlargeLet Go (2002)After early attempts to capture Lavigne’s sound Arista A&R head Josh Saurbin reached out to successful producer-songwriters Curt Frasca and Sabelle Breer (Madonna, Ryan Cabrera, Stacie Orrico) to help with the album.

Lavigne eventually moved to Los Angeles, California, and co-wrote with Cliff Magness and the songwriting team The Matrix, which has also worked with Sheena Easton and Christina Aguilera. She described her first album Let Go as an album with “a couple of rock songs on it”, and has voiced a desire to write more rock-oriented songs in the future. It was released in June 2002 in the United States, reaching number two there and number one in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (making Lavigne the youngest female soloist to have a number-one album in the UK until Joss Stone’s 2004 album Mind, Body & Soul). The RIAA certified it four times platinum less than six months later, and it had sold fifteen million copies worldwide as of December 2004. Four singles from the album were released, all of them number-one hits in Canada. “Complicated” went to number one in Australia while reaching number two on the U.S. Hot 100, and it was also one of the best-selling Canadian singles of 2002. “Sk8er Boi” reached the top ten in the U.S. and Australia, “I’m with You” reached the top ten in the UK, and “Losing Grip” reached the top ten in Taiwan, and the top twenty in Chile.

The media have often compared 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 Lavigne, as part of a trend towards more creativity in the teen pop-music market. 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-present

Lavigne’s second album Under My Skin was released in May 2004 in the U.S. It debuted at number one in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong and sold more than 380,000 copies in 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 Marvelous 3, and the rest with her former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. Kreviazuk’s husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, 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 UK 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, though it reached the number one spot in Canada.

The fourth single from the album, “He Wasn’t” , became her eighth consecutive number-one release in Canada since her debut single, but failed to make the UK top twenty and was not released in the U.S.

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.

Lavigne co-wrote “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 peaked in the U.S. top ten and provided Clarkson with a substantial hit.

Lavigne made her film debut in the animated film Over the Hedge, which is based on the comic strip of same name, alongside William Shatner, Bruce Willis and Garry Shandling. She 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 appeared in the February edition of Harpers Bazaar Fashion Magazine with a new look. Her third album currently does not have a release date, and it is being produced by Butch Walker. Lavigne performed at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics (Turin, Italy) for the eight minutes of the Vancouver 2010 portion.

Lavigne’s band currently includes Devin Bronson (lead guitar), Craig Wood (rhythm guitar), Charlie Moniz (bass) and Matt Brann (drums). Former members include Evan Taubenfeld (lead guitar, 2002 – 2004), Mark Spicoluk (bass, 2002) and Jesse Colburn (rhythm guitar, 2002 – 2003).

In 2003, it was reported that Lavigne was romantically involved with Colburn. Lavigne became engaged to be married to Deryck Whibley of the pop punk band Sum 41 during the summer of 2005 and the couple were married on July 15, 2006.

Until 2003, Lavigne traveled with a bag full of about 30 neckties. 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. 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. She has also bought a house with him in Beverly Hills.

Source: Avril Lavigne. (2006, July 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:03, July 19, 2006.