About Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne Whibley, better known by her birth name of Avril Lavigne, (born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian rock/punk-pop singer, musician and actress. In 2006, Canadian Business Magazine ranked her the seventh most powerful Canadian in Hollywood, and in 2007 she won ninth place in the Jabra Music Contest for the Best Band in the World, based on fan votes from around the world.

Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, was released in 2002, and went on to sell over 18 million copies worldwide. and was certified six times platinum in the United States 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 five number one songs worldwide to date and a total of eleven top ten hits, including “Complicated”, “Sk8er Boi”, “I’m with You”, “My Happy Ending”, and “Girlfriend”.

Avril Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario to a devout Christian family. 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. 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, Let Go. The Matrix, who worked extensively with Lavigne on the album, commented on her songwriting, saying, “We conceived the ideas on guitar and piano. Avril would come in and sing a few melodies, change a word here or there.”

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. 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.[citation needed] 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.

On May 25, 2007, Lavigne, her co-songwriter Lukasz Gottwald, and her record label were sued by songwriters James Gangwer and Tommy Dunbar over claims that her song “Girlfriend” infringes on their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, originally performed by The Rubinoos. In June 2007, Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, with whom Lavigne wrote the majority of her second album, Under My Skin, spoke to Performing Songwriter magazine about Lavigne’s songwriting, saying, “I mean, Avril, songwriter? Avril doesn’t really sit and write songs by herself or anything. Avril will also cross the ethical line and no one says anything. That’s why I’ll never work with her again. I sent her a song two years ago called ‘Contagious’, and I just saw the tracklisting to this album and there’s a song called ‘Contagious’ on it — and my name’s not on it. What do you do with that? See, I won’t [call the lawyers], I’ll just tell you. Art should not be subject to that kind of controversy.” On July 6, Lavigne denied both accusations in an open letter on her website, claiming that she had “never heard the [Rubinoos] song in [her] life” and also that she is considering taking legal action against Kreviazuk with regards to her allegations, which she considers “damaging to my reputation and a clear defamation of my character”. On July 10, Kreviazuk made a full public apology and retracted the statements made in the aforementioned interview.

Avril Lavigne Photo Archive