Biography:
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born on 27th September 1984 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Her parents Jean-Claude Lavigne (from Moselle, France) and Judith-Rosanne Loshaw moved to Napanee afterwards.
Avril started singing gospel at a very young age in the church choir. She was a talented child. Her father bought her a microphone and a guitar, and turned their basement into a studio.
In 1998 she won a music contest sponsored by a local radio, after her parents entered a tape of her singing. The prize was more than what Avril could have expected: singing live with Shania Twain at Corel Centre in Ottawa. They sang What Made You Say That together in front of 20,000 people.
Stephen Medd, the leader of a country band, spotted Avril during the show and invited her to collaborate with them and record Touch The Sky for their album Quinte Spirit. He liked her voice so much that he ended up asking her to record Two Rivers and Temple Of Life for their following album as well.
When she turned 14, she started writing her own songs. The first song she wrote was called Cannot Stop Thinking About You, which talks about a teenage crush. Shortly after, she started singing in public places such as local bookshops and fairs.
Cliff Fabri discovered Avril while she was performing at Chapters Bookstore in Kingston. He became Avril's first professional manager and came to see Avril perform in her basement for months.
Avril dropped out of school when she was only 15 and travelled to New York with Cliff and her brother Matt to pursue her career as a singer. Cliff had a contact at Nettwerk Records, that is how she got an audition to perform before Antonio L.A. Reid, the owner of another record company called Arista. In November 2002, she sang and played 3 country ballads for L.A. Reid, including Why, her first collaborative writing with Peter Zizzo.
He signed her off on Arista straight away and offered her a million dollar deal. And so, the preparations for her debut album began.
Avril started working with different songwriters and producers in New York, but she felt out of place.
She moved to Los Angeles where things would change completely.
There she met Cliff Magness and The Matrix production team.
Avril recorded an unkown demo. However, neither Fabri nor she was happy with the results.
Once in the States, Avril became interested in rock music and did not want to keep on doing country ballads any more.
She was taken to Cliff Magness seeking help. Only 4 hours after they had met, they wrote Unwanted.
Unfortunately, Arista wanted Avril to follow a different path. The label wanted her to sound sweeter and sing lyrics written by others. Avril refused.
Despite the fact that The Matrix were supposed to write a country song for her, they were amazed by Unwanted. As a result, they worked together on Complicated that very evening, and on two of her most successful singles: Sk8er Boi and I'm With You. The company then realised Avril had made a major breakthrough.
Avril worked further with Magness and The Matrix.
The recording of Avril Lavigne's debut album Let Go finished in January 2002.
Let Go was released on 4 June 2002. It reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 16 million copies worldwide so far.
Avril was named Best New Artist at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards after the music video for Complicated.
She won 4 Juno Awards in 2003 out of 6 nominations, received a World Music Award for World's Bestselling Canadian Singer and was nominated for 8 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for Complicated.
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born on 27th September 1984 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Her parents Jean-Claude Lavigne (from Moselle, France) and Judith-Rosanne Loshaw moved to Napanee afterwards.
Avril started singing gospel at a very young age in the church choir. She was a talented child. Her father bought her a microphone and a guitar, and turned their basement into a studio.
In 1998 she won a music contest sponsored by a local radio, after her parents entered a tape of her singing. The prize was more than what Avril could have expected: singing live with Shania Twain at Corel Centre in Ottawa. They sang What Made You Say That together in front of 20,000 people.
Stephen Medd, the leader of a country band, spotted Avril during the show and invited her to collaborate with them and record Touch The Sky for their album Quinte Spirit. He liked her voice so much that he ended up asking her to record Two Rivers and Temple Of Life for their following album as well.
When she turned 14, she started writing her own songs. The first song she wrote was called Cannot Stop Thinking About You, which talks about a teenage crush. Shortly after, she started singing in public places such as local bookshops and fairs.
Cliff Fabri discovered Avril while she was performing at Chapters Bookstore in Kingston. He became Avril's first professional manager and came to see Avril perform in her basement for months.
Avril dropped out of school when she was only 15 and travelled to New York with Cliff and her brother Matt to pursue her career as a singer. Cliff had a contact at Nettwerk Records, that is how she got an audition to perform before Antonio L.A. Reid, the owner of another record company called Arista. In November 2002, she sang and played 3 country ballads for L.A. Reid, including Why, her first collaborative writing with Peter Zizzo.
He signed her off on Arista straight away and offered her a million dollar deal. And so, the preparations for her debut album began.
Avril started working with different songwriters and producers in New York, but she felt out of place.
She moved to Los Angeles where things would change completely.
There she met Cliff Magness and The Matrix production team.
Avril recorded an unkown demo. However, neither Fabri nor she was happy with the results.
Once in the States, Avril became interested in rock music and did not want to keep on doing country ballads any more.
She was taken to Cliff Magness seeking help. Only 4 hours after they had met, they wrote Unwanted.
Unfortunately, Arista wanted Avril to follow a different path. The label wanted her to sound sweeter and sing lyrics written by others. Avril refused.
Despite the fact that The Matrix were supposed to write a country song for her, they were amazed by Unwanted. As a result, they worked together on Complicated that very evening, and on two of her most successful singles: Sk8er Boi and I'm With You. The company then realised Avril had made a major breakthrough.
Avril worked further with Magness and The Matrix.
The recording of Avril Lavigne's debut album Let Go finished in January 2002.
Let Go was released on 4 June 2002. It reached number 2 on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 16 million copies worldwide so far.
Avril was named Best New Artist at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards after the music video for Complicated.
She won 4 Juno Awards in 2003 out of 6 nominations, received a World Music Award for World's Bestselling Canadian Singer and was nominated for 8 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for Complicated.