Avril Lavigne - Biography

Avril Lavigne was born on September 27, 1984, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada to John and Judy Lavigne. Avril's parents are of Franco-Ontarian Roman Catholic descent. Avril has one young sister Michelle and an older brother Matthew. At the age of 5, Avril's family moved to Napanee, Ontario, Canada. Avril started singing there in a church "choir". She also learned guitar on herself.

When she was singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston, Ontario, she was discovered first by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri. She got the attention of the local folksinger Steve Medd, when she was performing with the Lennox Community Theatre. After that Steve Medd invitd her to sing on his song "Touch The Sky" for his album "Quinte Spirit" (1999). Also has sung "Temple Of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his album "My Window To You" (2000).

At the age of 16, she was signed by Ken Krongard (the artists-and-repertoire (A&R) representative of Arista Records). Avril started writing the songs also. Later Avril moved to Los Angeles, California, where she co-written the songs for her album with Cliff Magness and the songwriting team The Matrix. She described her debut album "Let Go" as a pop album, was released by Arista Records on June 4, 2002. The album made a huge success, in US it reached to No. 2, while in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom it reached to No. 1 position. With this she became the youngest female soloist to have a No. 1 album in the UK until Joss Stone's album "Mind, Body & Soul" in 2004.

The album containing four singles, all became hit. Song "Complicated" became No.1 in Australia while No. 2 on the US Hot 100, other song "Sk8er Boi" became the top 10 in the U.S. and Australia and No. 1 in Canada; "I'm With You" became top 5 in the US, while "Losing Grip" became No. 1 in Canada. It became the best-selling Canadian singles of 2002. "Let Go" earned 5 Grammy nominations, MTV music awards, MTV European music awards, won four Juno Awards and many more. It has sold millions of copies worldwide.

On May 25, 2004 Avril's second album was released called "Under My Skin". Avril has co-written most of the songs with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, some tracks are co-written by Lavigne and Ben Moody, and some with her former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfeld.

The song "Don't Tell Me" reached No. 1 in Argentina, top 5 in UK and Canada and top 10 in Australia and Brazil. "My Happy Ending" became top 10 in US, "Nobody's Home" didn't make top 40, while "He Wasn't" was No. 1 in Canada. Also earned many awards including two World Music Awards (2004), World's Best-Selling Canadian Artist, 5 Juno Award nominations (2005), Fan Choice Award and many more.

Avril co-written "Breakaway". The song was sang by Kelly Clarkson for the film "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" in 2004. The song was also included in Kelly's second album. It becomes No. 6 in US.

In 2006, Avril is going to make her film debut in the animated film "Over the Hedge (Voice)". She is acting in the Richard Gere film "The Flock". Also acting in "Fast Food Nation" with Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Ethan Hawke and Greg Kinnear. She has also performed at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics (Turin, Italy).

Relationship: Avril is engaged to Deryck Whibley (june 2005) from the pop punk band "Sum 41". It was also reported that Avril was romantically involved with Colburn in 2003.

Avril was signed by Ford Models in January 2006. She was appeared on the February edition of Harpers Bazaar Fashion Magazine. Her new album is due out in November of 2006.