Avril Lavigne Biography
Avril Lavigne (born on September 27, 1984) is a Juno Award-winning, Grammy-nominated Canadian singer, songwriter, model, and occasional actress.
Biography
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Avril Lavigne was originally known for her "skater" persona, but has since
shed that image in favour of a more sophisticated and feminine style,since about
2005 or 2006 although she has stated she is still a "rock chick" at heart.
Her first two albums, Let Go (2002) and Under My Skin (2004), have topped charts
in several countries. Avril Lavigne's third album Best Damn Thing (2007) is to
be released in April, 2007.
Avril is featured in Maxim magazine's Girls of Maxim gallery. In 2006, she was
included in Canadian Business Magazine's ranking of the most powerful Canadians
in Hollywood, grabbing the seventh position.
Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario to a French-born father, John, and a
Franco-Ontarian mother, Judy. Both parents are Roman Catholic. Lavigne's musical
talent was first spotted at the age of two when her mother says Lavigne began
singing along with her on church songs. At age five she moved with her family to
Napanee, Ontario, where she sang in a church choir and taught herself to play
the guitar.
In 1998, Avril won a competition to sing with fellow Canadian singer Shania
Twain on her first major concert tour. Avril Lavigne appeared alongside Twain at
her concert in Ottawa, appearing on stage to sing.
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
local folk singer 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 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 in a New York City studio. She then completed work
on her first album. Lavigne is extremely close to her younger sister Michelle
Lavigne and her older brother Matthew Lavigne. Michelle is two years younger
than Avril while Matt (Matthew) is three years older than Avril. On July 15,
2006, Avril married the lead singer of Canadian punk band Sum 41 Deryck Whibley.
The record company was hooking her up with proven writers and song doctors, But
Avril and Fabri were looking for someone who played a similar role that Glen
Ballard had played with Alanis Morissette.
The problem was, Fabri recalls, the company was fixated on what CEO Antonio
“L.A.” Reid saw at Lavigne’s three-song “audition” in October 2000, a
performance that Reid had loved. But the three audition songs were not what
Fabri and Avril were interested in pursuing, even though one of the songs was
Lavigne’s very first co-write, a pretty song called Why, which she wrote with
Peter Zizzo.
The audition numbers had a definite New Country flavor and both manager and
artist were determined to head out in a tougher, rock-pop direction.
“I think the record company was getting worried or upset,” Fabri recalled. “It
seemed like we were turning down everything but, even though Avril knew and
accepted that we needed the help, the material just wasn’t what we had decided
she was going to put out.”
The first writer provided by the company on the West Coast turned out to be very
much along the lines of the people they had worked with in NYC.
“Avril Lavigne was very stressed out—I promised her she wouldn’t have to go
through that again,” Fabri said.
He phoned a friend at EMI Publishing in New York, almost begging for a
recommendation for a good co-writer for Lavigne. The first suggestion was Clif
Magness, an Oscar-nominated writer/producer/musician who’d worked with stars
ranging from Barbra Streisand to Cheap Trick.
Magness was ideal, Fabri recalls, because Magness knew nothing about Lavigne, so
he was carrying no baggage. His attitude was refreshing and I detected instant
chemistry between him and Avril.
Four hours after they met, Lavigne and Magness had written Unwanted. The song is
the antithesis of New Country, featuring “alternative”-type
acoustic-guitar-based verses with hard choruses and sprinklings of keyboards and
electronica.
“We all flipped out,” Fabri recalls. “But I told Clif right away the label was
going to hate the song.”
Sure enough, when Fabri played the song over his cellphone for John Hecker, boss
of Hi-Fi Records in New York, which had been brought into the “Lavigne Project,”
Hecker said the label was not going to change formats to accommodate “this rock
song.”
“I don’t blame John’s attitude, they were just being protective of Avril,” Fabri
says now. “The problem was, they didn’t know Avril . ”Unwanted" set the path for
the whole "Let Go" CD.
For unusual reasons, Fabri and Avril were on their own, without the usual record
company representatives to ride shotgun, so they decided to fight that country-vs-rock
battle another day. Shortly after, they had their first meeting with Arista-supplied
songwriters/producers The Matrix, a hot collective featuring Lauren Christy,
Graham Edwards and Scott Spock, who, individually or together, had done
everything from solo work to songs and production for Christina Aguilera to
movie songs.
The group had a country-flavoured tune already written at the request of the
label, Fabri recalls, and Fabri once again went into his spiel that Avril would
not perform anyone else’s songs on this record. She was more than willing to
co-write and take advice, but it had to be her material. This time, things were
different. For the first time, Fabri had “product” for The Matrix to listen to.
“He played Unwanted for them, they were excited and talked to each other for a
minute and said they really preferred to write when the artist participates.”
That afternoon, the monster hit Complicated, the album’s first single and
probably the record’s identifying song, was born. “Everyone who listened to that
song knew Avril had just been born, she had a hit song,” Fabri says. “It was a
very happy time.” The song, Complicated, was like jet fuel for the Let Go record
and the album came in on time and under budget. From about May 2001 until last
fall, Lavigne co-wrote every tune, working again with Magness and the Matrix and
back with Peter Zizzo and Curt Frasca.
Lavigne described her first release 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. 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. In 2003, 17-year-old English singer Joss Stone broke
Lavigne's record.
Just over one month after its release, "Let Go" was certified both Gold and
Platinum by the RIAA and reached multi-Platinum status in late-August, and was
certified 3x Platinum two weeks after. Before the end of 2002, just six months
after its debut, it was certified 4x 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.
Four singles from the album were released. "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. Avril Lavigne tied a record set by
Natalie Imbruglia when "Complicated" held the number one spot on the
Contemporary Hit Radio chart (which tracks air play on the radio) for 11 weeks
in a row. Natalie Imbruglia previously held the record with her song "Torn",
which also held onto number one for 11 weeks. "Sk8er Boi" reached the top ten in
the U.S. and Australia, "I'm with You" reached the top ten in the U.S and the
UK, and "Losing Grip" reached the top ten in Taiwan, and the top twenty in
Chile.
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 8 Grammy Awards, including
Song of the Year for "Complicated" and Best New Artist.
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 Marvelous 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.
Lead single "Don't Tell Me" went to number one in Argentina and Mexico, the top
five in the UK and Canada, and the top ten in Australia and Brazil. "My Happy
Ending" reached the top ten in the U.S., and was her third-biggest hit there,
but third single "Nobody's Home" did not make the top forty. The fourth single
from the album, "He Wasn't", reached a fair twenty-three in the UK and
twenty-five in Australia, and was not released in the U.S. Fall To Pieces was
released as the final single from the album, but did not do as well as previous
singles.
Lavigne performing in Geneva in June 2005.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" 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. "Breakaway" peaked
in the U.S. top ten and provided Clarkson with a substantial hit.
Avril was touring throughout most of 2005 and pursuing her acting and modelling
careers. Lavigne represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter
Olympics in Turin, Italy. She performed her song, "Who Knows", during the eight
minutes of the Vancouver 2010 portion. She also was the voice of Heather the
possum in Dreamworks motion picture, Over The Hedge.
Lavigne also co-wrote with Dr. Luke, the song "Keep Holding On" for the movie
soundtrack 'Eragon'. It has peaked at #17 in Billboard Hot 100.
Her third album The Best Damn Thing is currently set for release on April 17th,
2007 and is produced by Butch Walker, her husband Deryck Whibley (Sum 41), Rob
Cavallo (Green Day, The Goo Goo Dolls, My Chemical Romance, Jewel), Dr. Luke and
herself. Travis Barker (Blink-182) has also recorded drums for Lavigne's new
album. On July 10, 2006, Avril Lavigne answered a Q&A on her official website
stating that her next CD will be released in the first half of next year, most
likely April. Avril says that her new album will contain love songs since
'that's what I'm feeling at the moment' and that she enjoys being able to write
songs with Butch Walker. It is said on her message board on her official website
that her new album will contain 15 songs. "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." Posted on her MySpace blog she revealed that the first single
from the album will be "Girlfriend", which is due to be released in February.
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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, Garry Shandling, and Steve Carell. She is also acting in the Richard Gere film The Flock, and her third project is Fast Food Nation, based on her favourite book. Avril has also written and recorded a new song titled "Keep Holding On" with Dr. Luke, to be part of the Eragon movie soundtrack, and will likely make the third album. The song was released for digital download on November 28th, and made its worldwide debut on radio on November 17th.
Until 2003, Lavigne traveled with a bag full of about 30 neckties. Some of them she bought, and the rest she took from her father; some were sent to her by fans. Lavigne stopped wearing neckties in 2003, as she was horrified at the media references to her style overshadowing her music, and that she was starting a fashion trend.
The classification of Lavigne's style of music has been debated. All Music Guide and other reviewers consider her to be "teen pop" or "adult/alternative pop-rock". It is questioned whether her music style is punk. The reason for the confusion appears to be for her punk-like appearance early in her career, probably started by her record company in the beginning of her career as the punky alternative to Britney Spears. However, there have been several occasions where she has stated "I'm not punk."Avril told Vainquer Magazine in April 2005, that she considered her music to be pop rock.
Avril spoke about her new look in a September 2006 interview. She explains, "When I was in high school I was a little shit, hanging out with the guys, getting drunk, smoking, getting in fights, playing hockey. My band were all guys, so I was only around guys, but when I got older I started being more of a chick. I broke out on the scene looking like the 17-year-old that I was. And from then to now I look really different—but that's called growing up."
It has been speculated that Avril is a vegetarian, but she has said many times that she is not. 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".
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 not good for her voice. Since her rise to fame, the restaurant has named a pizza after Avril that contains her favourite toppings and there is a guest book for fans to sign which is picked up by Avril when she visits friends and family in her home town.
Avril 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. She has bought a house with him in Beverly Hills.
Lavigne was romantically linked to her former guitarist Jesse Colburn but despite rumours, she did not have a relationship with another former guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. In a J-14 magazine from 2004, she talks about her first kiss being when she was 14 years old. In M magazine in 2003, an article was published about an ex-boyfriend selling her love letters on eBay.
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 (which also happened to be ex-guitarist Evan Taubenfeld's 22nd birthday), 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 Catholic ceremony that began at 5 p.m., lasted only 20 minutes on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at a private estate in the California coastal city of Montecito. Lavigne wore a Vera Wang gown, carried pearl white Australian roses and was walked down the aisle by her father. Whibley wore a Hugo Boss suit and was accompanied by four best men. They were Steve Jocz and Cone McCaslin from Sum 41, Matthew Lavigne (Avril's older brother), and Sum 41's close friend Robb Dipple. Avril's younger sister Michelle Lavigne was one of Avril's bridesmaids. There were about 110 guests in attendance.
The hit song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls was played as their wedding song. When asked if they were ready for kids they said "not right now but somewhere down the road.
This Avril Lavigne Biography Page is Copyright The Planets © 2004 - 2006 Chuck Ayoub