Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. In 1999, she won a radio contest to perform with the Canadian singer Shania Twain at the Corel Centre in Ottawa, before an audience of 20,000 people. Twain and Lavigne sang Twain’s song, “What Made You Say That”, and shee told Twain that she was going to be “a famous singer. In November 2000, Ken Krongard, an A&R representative, invited Antonio 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.
It was only when Lavigne then went to Los Angeles in May 2001 and created two songs with The Matrix production team—including “Complicated”, later released as her debut single—that the record company felt she had made a major breakthrough. Lavigne worked further with The Matrix and also with singer-songwriter Cliff Magness. Recording of Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, finished in January 2002. The second single, “Sk8er Boi”, was aimed at pop punk-oriented kids. The release of “Sk8er Boi” created disagreement among many radio programming directors. However, their impressions were diverted as listeners helped change their minds; early rotation of the single proved successful, showing it was as popular with post-collegiate listeners as with teens. The song reached number one on US mainstream radio.
“I’m With You” was released in late November 2002, close to Christmas holidays to remind parents about the album to, if not to buy it themselves, to purchase it for any children in their family. The song became another success for Lavigne reaching number four in the Billboard Hot 100, number one on mainstream radio and the top 10 in the UK and Canada.
Lavigne’s second studio album, Under My Skin, was released in May 2004 and debuted at number one in Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the US. The album was certified five-times Platinum in Canada and has sold 10 million copie. Lavigne wrote most of the album’s tracks with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk.Lavigne said that Under My Skin proved her credentials as a songwriter, saying that “each song comes from a personal experience of mine, and there are so much[sic] emotions in those songs”.
“Don’t Tell Me”, the lead single off the album, reached the top five in the UK and Canada and the top ten in Australia. “My Happy Ending”, the album’s second single, was a top five hit in the UK and Australia. In the US, it was a top ten entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a number-one pop radio hit. In February 2006, Lavigne represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Lavigne’s third album, The Best Damn Thing, was released in April 2007 and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, and subsequently achieved Platinum status in Canada. The album sold more than 2 million copies in the US. Its lead single, “Girlfirend”, became Lavigne’s first number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and one of the decade’s biggest singles. The single also peaked at number one in Australia, Canada, and Japan, and reached number two in the UK and France.
“When You’re Gone” the album’s second single, reached the top five in Australia and the United Kingdom, the top ten in Canada, and the top forty in the US. Lavigne won two World Music Awards in 2007, for ‘World’s Bestselling Canadian Artist’ and ‘World’s Best Pop/Rock Female Artist’. She won her first two MTV Europe Music Awards, received a Teen Choice Award for ‘Best Summer Single’, and was nominated for five Juno Awards. In December 2007, Lavigne was ranked number eight in Forbes magazine’s list of ‘Top 20 Earners Under 25’, with annual earnings of $12 million.
The lead single from Lavigne’s fifth studio album, “Here’s to Never Growing Up” was released in April 2013 and reached top 20 positions on the Billboard, Australia and the UK. The second single, “Rock n Roll”, was released in August 2013 and the third, “Let Me Go” was released in October 2013. On April 24, 2020, Lavigne re-recorded the track “Warrior” from her sixth studio album and released it as a single, titled “We Are Warriors”. The proceeds from the single support Project HOPE’s relief efforts in the Covid-19 pandemic.
