Profile Avril Ramona Lavigne Whibley

Erly life

Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario. Her father, Jean-Claude Lavigne, named her "Avril" after the French word for the month of April. At the age of two, she began singing church songs along with her mother, Judith-Rosanne "Judy" (née Loshaw). Judy recognized her two year old daughter's talents after hearing her sing "Jesus Loves Me" in church. Lavigne has an older brother, Matthew, and a younger sister, Michelle, 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."

When Lavigne was five years old, the family moved to Napanee, Ontario, a town with an approximate population of 5,000. Although she struggled with paying attention in school, sometimes getting kicked out of class for misbehaving, her parents were supportive of her singing. Her father bought her a microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, several guitars, and converted their basement into a studio. When Lavigne was 14, her parents would take her to karaoke sessions. Lavigne also performed at country fairs, singing songs by Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, and Shania Twain. She also 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"

In 1999,[9] Lavigne won a radio contest to perform with fellow Canadian singer Shania Twain at the Corel Centre (now Scotiabank Place) in Ottawa, before an audience of 20,000 people. Twain and Lavigne sang "What Made You Say That", and Lavigne told Twain she was going to be "a famous singer". During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folk singer Stephen Medd.

I’ve known all my life that this is what I was supposed to do.... Visualizing like what it would be like to be famous with my music. And always just dreaming, always daydreaming.

—Avril Lavigne, NBC News 

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, Ontario. Fabri sent out VHS tapes of Lavigne's home performances to several industry prospects, and Lavigne was visited by several executives. Mark Jowett, co-founder of the Canadian management firm Nettwerk, received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances recorded in her parents' basement, and arranged for Lavigne to work with Peter Zizzo in New York during the summer of 2000, where she wrote the song "Why?". It was on a subsequent trip to New York that Lavigne was noticed by Arista Records.

Lavigne would go on to sell more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide, becoming one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over 10.25 million copies certified by the RIAA. In 2009, Billboard named Lavigne the No. 10 pop artist in the "Best of the 2000s" chart, and she was listed as the 28th overall best act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity in the U.S.

Musical style and songwriting

Themes in Lavigne's music include messages of self-empowerment from a female or adolescent point of view. 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." 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." Lavigne's second album, Under My Skin, had more personal themes underlying each song. Lavigne explained, "I've gone through so much, so that's what I talk about.... Like boys, like dating or relationships". In contrast, her third album, The Best Damn Thing, was not very 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." Her objective in writing the album was simply to "make it fun". Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne's fourth album, was much more personal than her earlier records, with Lavigne describing the album as "more stripped down, deeper. All the songs are very emotional".

Growing up, Lavigne listened to Blink-182, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty and Shania Twain, and her influences include Courtney Love and Janis Joplin. Because of these influences, musical genres, and her personal style, the media frequently defined her as punk, something she denied being. Lavigne’s close friend and guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld, said, "It's a very touchy subject to a lot of people, but the point is that Avril isn't punk, but she never really pretended to claim to come from that scene. She had pop punk music and the media ended up doing the rest". Lavigne also commented on the matter: "I have been labeled like I'm this angry girl,  rebel... punk, and I am so not any of them."

I know my fans look up to me and that's why I make my songs so personal; it's all about things I've experienced and things I like or hate. I write for myself and hope that my fans like what I have to say.

—Avril Lavigne, Girl.com.au

While Lavigne denied being angry, her interviews were still passionate about the media's lack of respect for her songwriting. "I am a writer, and I won't accept people trying to take that away from me", adding that she'd been writing "full-structured songs" since she was 14. Despite this, Lavigne’s songwriting has been questioned throughout her career. The songwriting trio, the Matrix, with whom Lavigne wrote songs for her debut album, claimed that they were the main songwriters of Lavigne’s singles, "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm with You". Lavigne denied this, asserting that she was the primary songwriter for every song on the album. "[N]one of those songs aren't from me". In 2007, Chantal Kreviazuk, who wrote with Lavigne on her second album, accused Lavigne of plagiarism[83] and criticised her songwriting. "Avril doesn't really sit and write songs by herself or anything". Lavigne also disclaimed this, and considered taking legal action against Kreviazuk for "clear defamation" against her character. Kreviazuk later apologised: "Avril is an accomplished songwriter and it has been my privilege to work with her". Shortly thereafter, Tommy Dunbar, founder of the 1970s band, the Rubinoos, sued Lavigne, her publishing company, and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald for allegedly stealing parts of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" for her song "Girlfriend". Gottwald defended Lavigne, stating, "me and Avril wrote the song together…. It has the same chord progressions as ten different Blink-182 songs, the standard changes you'd find in a Sum 41 song. It's the Sex Pistols, not the Rubinoos." In January 2008, the lawsuit was closed after a confidential settlement had been reached.

source : wekipedia