Avril Lavigne

Band Members: Avril Lavigne Evan Taubenfield (guitar) Matthew Brane (drums) Mark Spicoluk (bass)

Lavigne was raised by conservative parents. She grew up singing country music and in a church choir, and taught herself to play guitar. When she was 16 years old, she signed a record contract with Arista Records, part of BMG. She moved to New York City to work on an album.

Her attempts to write songs with others that met her wishes failed. So she went to Los Angeles to write with the help of Cliff Magness and a writing team called The Matrix, which had previously written songs for Sheena Easton and Christina Aguilera.

On June 4, 2002, she released her debut album Let Go. Within six months, the album sales reached quadruple platinum. From the album, "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm With You" and "Losing Grip" were released as singles. Let Go sold 15 million copies worldwide. The album showcased poprock, indie, alternative and grunge influences. Just over a month after its release, Let Go achieved platinum status in the United States in mid-August. This made it the fourth best-selling album in 2003. By December 2007, it had sold over 6.6 million copies in the United States and over 16 million copies worldwide.

Under My Skin On May 25, 2004, her second album Under My Skin was released, largely written in collaboration with Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk. Additionally, a few tracks were written by Ben Moody (founder of Evanescence), Butch Walker from Marvellous 3, her former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfield and her former drummer Matt Brann. Kreviazuk's husband, Raine Maida (frontman of Our Lady Peace) co-produced the album with Butch Walker and Don Gilmore.

This album contained more rock songs than her debut album, featuring pop punk and soft post-grunge sounds. It debuted at number one in thirteen countries. Four singles were released from this album: lead single "Don't Tell Me", "My Happy Ending" which was the best-performing single from the album in the Netherlands, "Nobody's Home" and "He Wasn't". The album also featured "Slipped Away", a tribute to her late grandfather.

To promote the album, Lavigne toured 21 cities in the United States and Canada. Each show on this "Live and by Surprise" tour consisted of a few short live acoustic songs from the album. She was accompanied by her guitarist Evan Taubenfield. The performances were announced within 48 hours before each concert. The tour was very popular and successful as a promotional tool. Selections from this tour appear on her EP Avril Lavigne Live Acoustic.

The Best Damn Thing Avril Lavigne announced on December 2, 2004 that she would go into the studio in March 2005, after completing her Japanese tour, to record her third album. She had already written a large part of the songs during the European tour in the fall of 2004. Another part she had recorded on her answering machine.

On July 15, 2006, she married Sum 41 singer Deryck Whibley in Montecito, California. He was also of Canadian descent.

Lavigne has a contract with Ford Models talent agency and modeled for Chanel's makeup line from fall 2006. She appeared in a role in the crime film The Flock and played a waitress in The Fast Food Nation. She also provided the voice for Heather, a possum in the animated film Over the Hedge. She also sang "Keep Holding On" for the film Eragon, which appears on her album The Best Damn Thing. Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing, came out in mid-April. The first single from it was "Girlfriend". Avril describes her album as mischievous, up-tempo, fresh, but most of all as having its own style. Lavigne, who in the beginning of her career positioned herself against everything and everyone, is now becoming a bit more relaxed; she has traded her ties for haute couture dresses by Gucci and besides being a singer she is now also an actress.

Lavigne sold around 30 million albums worldwide, nearly 10 million of them in the United States. Her second single from The Best Damn Thing was "When You're Gone", a rock ballad. The third single was "Hot" and came out on October 5, 2007. Its video was filmed on September 8, 2007 in New York. On March 4, 2008, her 'Best Damn Tour' kicked off. She begins touring in America first, then moves on to Europe and eventually rocks Asia. On Friday, June 20, Lavigne performed a concert at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.

Albums: The chart positions are from the Dutch album top 20/50/100. Let Go 2002 highest position: 4 Under My Skin 2004 highest position: 13 The Best Damn Thing 2007 highest position: 8

Singles: The chart positions are from the Dutch top 40. Complicated 26-08-2002 position: 2 Sk8er Boi 08-12-2002 position: 6 I'm With You 03-03-2003 position: 9 Losing Grip 30-06-2003 position: 8 Don't Tell Me 26-04-2004 position: 8 My Happy Ending 26-07-2004 position: 13 Nobody's Home 29-11-2004 position: 37 He Wasn't 10-04-2005 position: 9 Girlfriend 30-03-2007 position: 1 When You're Gone 29-06-2007 position: 2 Hot 02-11-2007 position: 15 The Best Damn Thing 2008 position: —