Avril Lavigne Biography, Pictures and News

Posted on October 5, 2010, Filed under Avril Lavigne, Biographies

Avril Lavigne Biography

Avril Lavigne was born on 27 September 1984 and she is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and occasional actress. Lavigne broke into the recording industry with her debut album, Let Go, released in 2002, when she was 17 years old; as of 2009, over 16 million copies have been sold worldwide, more than 6 million of which were sold in the United States.

Her breakthrough single, “Complicated”, peaked in many top ten positions around the world, as did Let Go. Lavigne’s second album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and was her first album to peak at #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne’s third album, was released in 2007; this album gave Lavigne her third #1 album in the UK Albums Chart and featured her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 single, “Girlfriend”.

Lavigne has scored a total of five #1 singles worldwide, including “Complicated”, “Sk8er Boi”, “I’m With You”, “My Happy Ending” and “Girlfriend”. She is currently working on her fourth studio album, expected to be released in 2010.

Avril Lavigne has sold more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide and is currently one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the United States, with over 10 million copies certified by the Recording Industry Association of America. Billboard named Lavigne the #10 pop artist of the 2000s as well as the 28th overall best act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity in the USA.

Avril Lavigne has acted in several films, including the 2007 film “The Flock”, and had a voice-acting role in the 2006 film “Over the Hedge”. In August 2006, Canadian Business magazine ranked her the seventh top Canadian actor dominating in Hollywood in their second-annual ranking Celebrity Power List. She is ranked second with the most web hits, and sixth in TV mentions.

In July 2006, Avril Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley. The marriage lasted a little over three years, and in October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce. Whibley and Lavigne continued to work together after the divorce, with Whibley producing on her upcoming fourth album, as well as Lavigne’s single, “Alice”, written for Tim Burton’s film Alice in Wonderland.

Avril Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Judith-Rosanne “Judy” (née Loshaw) and Jean-Claude Lavigne. Her father, who is of French Canadian descent, named her Avril after the French word for the month of April. She has an older brother, Matthew, and a younger sister, Michelle. A daughter of a working-class family, Lavigne, at the age of two, began singing church songs along with her mother. 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; he invited her to contribute vocals on his song, “Touch the Sky”, for his 1999 album, Quinte Spirit. She later sang on “Temple of Life” and “Two Rivers” for his follow-up 2000 album, My Window to You.

Lavigne married Deryck Whibley of punk band Sum 41 in a Catholic ceremony attended by about 110 guests on 15 July 2006, at a private estate in Montecito, California. They began dating in February 2004 and on 27 June 2005, they became engaged. Whibley proposed to Lavigne by surprising her with a trip to Venice, a gondola ride, and then a romantic picnic. Lavigne has stated that she considered having a gothic wedding but instead gave in to her childhood dreams of a traditional ceremony. Lavigne has stated that she is “the best thing that’s ever happened” to Whibley and has suggested that she helped him stay off drugs.

It was announced on 17 September 2009, that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow. On 9 October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce.
When Lavigne first gained publicity, she was known for her tomboyish style, in particular her usual neck-tie and tank-top combination. Lavigne eventually started to take on a darker, more gothic style as she began her second album, Under My Skin. During The Best Damn Thing era, Lavigne dyed her hair blonde with a pink streak and generally became more feminine. Some fans felt she had become too upbeat and lost her original style. Lavigne stated, regarding her changing style, “I don’t really regret anything. You know, the ties and the wifebeaters and all…It had its time and place. And now I’m all grown up, and I’ve moved on”. She has often been dubbed as the “pop punk princess” by the media due to her personal style.
Early in her career, Lavigne was dubbed by her fans as the “anti-Britney”, referring to Britney Spears, due to her less-commercial and “real” image. Lavigne responded by saying “I don’t like that term – ‘the anti-Britney.’ It’s stupid [and] I don’t believe in that.”

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, which represents her now separated husband Deryck Whibley. In April 2010, Lavigne added another tattoo on her wrist, that of a lightning bolt and the number 30, and her current boyfriend, Brody Jenner, received a matching lightning bolt tattoo under his ear.

In a 2004 interview, Lavigne stated that her favourite party song is “Hey Ya”, by Outkast. She likes listening to Third Eye Blind, Oasis, Marilyn Manson, System of a Down and Blink-182, and especially loves the track “I Miss You”. Asked what she would put on a mix tape to a boy she liked, she answered: “Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls. I’d put a few Coldplay and Oasis songs. Radiohead – The Bends is one of my favorite albums”.

Lavigne has been featured in a comic series Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes. She stars as herself, a rock star who is idolized by the protagonist of the story.