Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN, French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She is considered a key musician in the development of pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s.[1][2] Her accolades include eight Grammy Award nominations, among others.
For the album, see Avril Lavigne (album).
Avril Lavigne
- Canada
- France
- Singer
- songwriter
1999–present
Ryota Kohama (brother-in-law)
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
- drums
5.5 million
37.3 million
At age 16, Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the successful singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop-Punk Queen" from music publications.[3][4] Her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first album to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Lavigne's third studio album, The Best Damn Thing (2007), reached number one in seven countries worldwide and saw the international success of its lead single "Girlfriend", which became her first single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Her next two studio albums, Goodbye Lullaby (2011) and Avril Lavigne (2013), saw continued commercial success and were both certified gold in Canada, the United States, and other territories.[5][6][7] After releasing her sixth studio album, Head Above Water (2019), she returned to her punk roots with her seventh studio album, Love Sux (2022).[8]
Early life
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born on September 27, 1984, in Belleville, Ontario. She was named Avril (the French word for April) by her father.[9] He and Lavigne's mother recognized their child's vocal abilities when she was two years old and sang "Jesus Loves Me" on the way home from church.[10] Lavigne has an older brother named Matthew and a younger sister named Michelle,[11] both of whom teased her when she sang. "My brother used to knock on the wall because I used to sing myself to sleep and he thought it was really annoying."[10] She is the sister-in-law of Japanese band One OK Rock bassist Ryota Kohama.[12] Lavigne's paternal grandfather Maurice Yves Lavigne was born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec.[13] A member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he married Lucie Dzierzbicki, a French native of Morhange in 1953. Their son, Jean-Claude Lavigne, was born in 1954 at RCAF Station Grostenquin near Grostenquin, Lorraine.[14] When Jean-Claude was a child, the family moved to Ontario, and in 1975, he married Judith-Rosanne "Judy" Loshaw.[15][16]
When Lavigne was 5, the family moved to Napanee (now incorporated as Greater Napanee),[17] a town with a population of approximately 5,000 at the time.[18][19][20] Also when she was 5, she was diagnosed with ADHD, which caused her several problems during her school years.[21]
Her parents supported her singing; her father bought her a microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, and several guitars, and he converted their basement into a studio. Following his own love for music, Jean-Claude led the family to church at Third Day Worship Centre in Kingston, where he often played bass. When Lavigne was 14 years old, her parents took her to karaoke sessions.[22]
Lavigne performed at country fairs, singing songs by Garth Brooks, the Chicks, and Shania Twain. She began writing her own songs. Her first song was called "Can't Stop Thinking About You", about a teenage crush, which she described as "cheesy cute".[23] Lavigne also played hockey during high school and won MVP twice as a right winger in a boys league.[24]
Career
1999–2001: Career beginnings
In 1999, Lavigne won a radio contest to perform with Canadian singer Shania Twain at the Corel Centre in Ottawa, before an audience of 20,000 people.[25][17][18] Twain and Lavigne sang Twain's song, "What Made You Say That",[17] and Lavigne told Twain that she aspired to be "a famous singer".[18] During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folksinger Stephen 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 album, My Window to You, in 2000.
In December 1999, Lavigne was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston.[17][18] Fabri sent out VHS tapes of Lavigne's home performances to several industry prospects, and Lavigne was visited by several executives.[26] Mark Jowett, co-founder of a Canadian management firm, Nettwerk, received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances recorded in her parents' basement.[27] Jowett arranged for Lavigne to work with producer Peter Zizzo during the summer of 2000 in New York, where she wrote the song "Why". Lavigne was noticed by Arista Records during a trip to New York.[26]
In November 2000,[19] Ken Krongard, an A&R representative, invited Antonio "L.A." Reid, then head of Arista Records, to Zizzo's Manhattan studio to hear Lavigne sing. Her 15-minute audition "so impressed" Reid that he immediately signed her to Arista with a deal worth $1.25 million for two albums and an extra $900,000 for a publishing advance.[20][17] By this time, Lavigne had found that she fit in naturally with her hometown high school's skater clique, an image that carried through to her first album, but although she enjoyed skateboarding, school left her feeling insecure. Having signed a record deal, and with support from her parents, she left school to focus on her music career.[19][28][23] Lavigne's band, which were mostly the members of Closet Monster, was chosen by Nettwerk, as they wanted young performers who were up and coming from the Canadian punk rock scene who would fit with Lavigne's personality.[29]
Artistry and image
Musical style and songwriting
During the 2000s decade, most critics and publications identified Lavigne's first three albums as a mix of pop-punk, alternative rock and pop rock[131][132][133][134][135][136][137] influenced by a post-grunge sound.[138][139][140][132][141][142] Let Go was classified as a pop rock and alternative rock album with a slight grunge influence. Meanwhile, the singer was compared to other female artists with the same sound, mainly Alanis Morissette.[143][144][145] The album Under My Skin, was noticeably darker musically, with heavier production that showcased ballads and rocker songs which incorporated a more post-grunge sound that verged on nu metal,[146][147][148][149] keeping pop punk power chords influences,[150] that anticipated the emotional intensity and theatrical aesthetics of emo-pop music before it came into the mainstream.[151] Critics compared the album with similar works by contemporary acts at the time like Linkin Park and Evanescence, due to its nu metal influence.[152][153][154] In contrast, The Best Damn Thing abandoned the alternative and post-grunge style in favour of pop punk tunes. It is noted a main combination of cheerleader-inspired bubblegum pop melodies with punk rock riffs,[155] which led to compare her as sounding like Toni Basil cheerleading for Blink-182.[156] Teen pop impact on Lavigne's music on this decade was noted, since most of her lyrics were from an adolescent perspective from her teenage years, this made some critics to describe her as an act of alternateen or teen punk music.[136]
Later on in the 2010s, her sound went softer and poppier, characterized more by acoustic pop-rock songs and less loud grungy guitar-driven songs that were the signature of her earlier works.[157] With the 2020s pop-punk mainstream resurgence, Lavigne went back to her pop-punk roots, embracing emo-pop angst,[158][159][160][161] and skate punk influences from NOFX, blink-182, Green Day and the Offspring.[162][163][164][165]
Lavigne possesses a soprano vocal range.[166][167][168][169] Themes in her music include messages of self-empowerment from a female or an adolescent view.[170] Lavigne believes her "songs are about being yourself no matter what and going after your dreams even if your dreams are crazy and even if people tell you they're never going to come true."[171] On her debut album, Let Go, Lavigne preferred the less mainstream songs, such as "Losing Grip", instead of her more radio-friendly singles, such as "Complicated", saying that "the songs I did with the Matrix ... were good for my first record, but I don't want to be that pop anymore."[172] Lavigne's second album, Under My Skin, had deeper personal themes underlying each song, with Lavigne remarking that "I've gone through so much, so that's what I talk about ... Like boys, like dating or relationships".[173] In contrast, her third album, The Best Damn Thing, was not personal to her. "Some of the songs I wrote didn't even mean that much to me. It's not like some personal thing I'm going through."[174] Her objective in writing the album was simply to "make it fun".[175] Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne's fourth album, was much more personal than her earlier records,[77] with Lavigne describing the album as "more stripped down, deeper. All the songs are very emotional".[176] Ian McKellen defined her as "a punk chanteuse, a post-grunge valkyrie, with the wounded soul of a poet and the explosive pugnacity of a Canadian" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2007.[177][178]
Other activities
Acting career
Lavigne became interested in appearing on television and in feature films. The decision, she said, was her own. Although her years of experience in making music videos was to her advantage, Lavigne admitted her experience in singing removed any fear of performing on camera. She specifically mentioned that the video "Nobody's Home" involved the most "acting".[171] Her first television appearance was in a 2002 episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,[269] performing "Sk8er Boi"[270] with her band in a nightclub.[271] She later made a cameo appearance in the 2004 film Going the Distance. The main characters bump into her backstage at the MuchMusic Video Awards[272] after her performance of "Losing Grip".[273]
She moved into feature film acting cautiously, choosing deliberately small roles to begin with. In November 2005, after going through an audition to land the role, Lavigne travelled to New Mexico[274] to film a single scene in the 2007 film, The Flock.[275] She played Beatrice Bell, the girlfriend of a crime suspect, appearing alongside Claire Danes and Richard Gere. Gere gave Lavigne acting tips between takes.[275] On her role in The Flock, Lavigne said, "I did that just to see how it was and to not jump into [mainstream acting] too fast".[171] The Flock was not released in American theatres, and because it was not released in foreign markets until late 2007, it is not considered Lavigne's debut. The film made $7 million in the foreign box office.[276]
