Avril Lavigne:"I like being a minor because you can't get into trouble. Now I just have to try and behave myself." -Avril LavigneAvril Ramona Lavigne-Whibley(born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian rock singer and musician. She has sold over twenty-six million albums worldwide. In 2006, Canadian Business Magazine ranked her the seventh most powerful Canadian in Hollywood.Although her parents are of French origins, she doesn't speak French. Avril is French for "April", while la vigne means "the vine" or "the vineyard".Lavigne's debut album, Let Go, was released in 2002. 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 three number one songs worldwide to date and a total of nine top ten hits, including "Complicated," "Sk8er Boi," "I'm with You," "My Happy Ending," "Nobody's Home," "Keep Holding On," and "Girlfriend."
Background
Avril Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada,to a French-born father, John, and a Franco-Ontarian mother, Judy. Both parents are Catholic and she had a Catholic upbringing. Avril's musical talent was first spotted at the age of two when her mother says Avril 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.
Music career
Let Go (2002–2004)
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.Just over one month after its release, "Let Go" reached multi-platinum status in late-August, and was certified triple platinum two weeks after.Before the end of 2002, just six months after its debut, it was certified four times 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 one of the best-selling Canadian singles of 2002. Lavigne tied a record set by Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" when "Complicated" held the number one spot on the contemporary hit radio chart (which tracks air play on the radio) for eleven weeks in a row."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), received a World Music Award for "World's Best-Selling Canadian Singer", and was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including "Song of the Year" for "Complicated" and "Best New Artist".
