Avril Ramona Lavigne (born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is credited with boosting the popularity of pop-punk music, in particular for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include 10 Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards nominations.
At age 16, Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut 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 titles of "Pop-Punk Queen", "Pop-Punk Princess" and "Teen-Pop Slayer" from music publications. Her second album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Lavigne's third 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 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. After releasing her sixth album, Head Above Water (2019), she returned to her pop punk roots with her seventh album, Love Sux (2022).
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. Lavigne's paternal grandfather Maurice Yves Lavigne was born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec. 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. When Jean-Claude was a child, the family moved to Ontario, and in 1975, he married Judith-Rosanne "Judy" Loshaw.
She was raised in the evangelical Christian faith. Lavigne's parents recognized her vocal abilities when she was two years old and sang "Jesus Loves Me" on the way home from their church. Lavigne has an older brother named Matthew and a younger sister named 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, the family moved to Napanee (now incorporated as Greater Napanee), a town with a population of approximately 5,000 at the time.
To support her musical interests, her father bought her a microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, and several guitars, and converted their basement into a studio. Her father often played bass at the church the family attended, the Third Day Worship Centre in Kingston. When Lavigne was 14 years old, her parents took her to karaoke sessions.
Lavigne performed at country fairs, singing songs by Garth Brooks, the Chicks, and Shania Twain, and began writing her own songs. Her first song was called "Can't Stop Thinking About You", about a teenage infatuation, which she described as "cheesy cute".
Lavigne also played ice hockey during high school and was named most valuable player (MVP) twice as a right winger in a boys' league.
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. Twain and Lavigne sang Twain's song, "What Made You Say That", and Lavigne told Twain that she aspired to be "a famous singer". 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. 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 a Canadian management firm, Nettwerk, received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances recorded in her parents' basement. 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.
In November 2000, 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. 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. 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.
2002–2003: Let Go
Reid gave A&R Joshua Sarubin the responsibility of overseeing Lavigne's development and the recording of her debut album. They spent several months in New York working with different co-writers, trying to forge an individual sound for her. Sarubin told HitQuarters that they initially struggled; although early collaborations with songwriter-producers including Sabelle Breer, Curt Frasca and Peter Zizzo resulted in some good songs, they did not match her or her voice. It was only when Lavigne 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 Clif Magness. Recording of Lavigne's debut album, Let Go, finished in January 2002.
Lavigne released Let Go in June 2002 in the US, where it reached number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It peaked at number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK—this made Lavigne, at 17 years old, the youngest female soloist to have a number-one album on the UK Albums Chart at that time. By the end of 2002, the album was certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA, making her the bestselling female artist of 2002 and Let Go the top-selling debut of the year. By May 2003, Let Go had accumulated over 1 million sales in Canada, receiving a diamond certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association. By 2009, the album had sold over 16 million units worldwide. By March 2018, the RIAA certified the album seven-times Platinum, denoting shipments of over seven million units in the US.
Lavigne's debut single, "Complicated", peaked at number one in Australia and number two in the US. "Complicated" was one of the bestselling Canadian singles of 2002, and one of the decade's biggest hits in the US, where subsequent singles "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm with You" reached the top ten. With these three singles, Lavigne became the second artist in history to have three top-ten songs from a debut album on Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart. Lavigne was named Best New Artist (for "Complicated") at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, won four Juno Awards in 2003 out of six nominations, received a World Music Award for "World's Bestselling Canadian Singer", and was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Complicated".
In 2002, Lavigne made a cameo appearance in the music video for "Hundred Million" by the pop punk band Treble Charger. In March 2003, Lavigne posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and in May she performed "Fuel" during MTV's Icon tribute to Metallica. During her first headlining tour, the Try to Shut Me Up Tour, Lavigne covered Green Day's "Basket Case".
2004–2005: Under My Skin
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 copies, including 3.2 million in the US. Lavigne wrote most of the album's tracks with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, and Kreviazuk's husband, Our Lady Peace front man Raine Maida, co-produced the album with Butch Walker and Don Gilmore. 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. The third single, "Nobody's Home", did not manage to make the top 40 in the US and performed moderately elsewhere.
During early 2004, Lavigne embarked on the 'Live and By Surprise' acoustic mall tour in the US and Canada to promote Under My Skin, accompanied by her guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. In September 2004, Lavigne embarked on her first world tour, the year-long Bonez Tour. Lavigne won two World Music Awards in 2004, for 'World's Best Pop/Rock Artist' and 'World's Bestselling Canadian Artist' and won three Juno Awards from five nominations in 2005, including 'Artist of the Year'. She also won in the category of 'Favorite Female Singer' at the eighteenth annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
Lavigne co-wrote the song "Breakaway", which was recorded by Kelly Clarkson for the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. "Breakaway" was released as a single in mid 2004 and subsequently included as the title track on Clarkson's second album, Breakaway. Lavigne performed the Goo Goo Dolls song "Iris" with the band's lead singer John Rzeznik at Fashion Rocks in September 2004, and she posed for the cover of Maxim in October 2004. She recorded the theme song for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (released in November 2004) with producer Butch Walker.
2006–2011: The Best Damn Thing and Goodbye Lullaby
In February 2006, Lavigne represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Fox Entertainment Group approached Lavigne to write a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 fantasy-adventure film Eragon; her contribution, "Keep Holding On", was released as a single to promote the film and its soundtrack.
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, "Girlfriend", 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. As well as English, "Girlfriend" was recorded in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Mandarin. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ranked "Girlfriend" as the most-downloaded track worldwide in 2007, selling 7.3 million copies, including the versions recorded in eight different languages. "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. "Hot" was the third single and charted only at number 95 in the US, although it reached the top 10 in Canada and the top 20 in Australia.
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. In March 2008, Lavigne undertook a world tour, The Best Damn World Tour, and appeared on the cover of Maxim for the second time. In mid-August, Malaysia's Islamic opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, attempted to ban Lavigne's tour show in Kuala Lumpur, judging her stage moves "too sexy". It was thought that her concert on August 29 would promote wrong values ahead of Malaysia's Independence Day on August 31. On August 21, 2008, MTV reported that the concert had been approved by the Malaysian government.
In January 2010, Lavigne worked with Disney to create clothing designs inspired by Tim Burton's feature film Alice in Wonderland. She recorded a song for its soundtrack, "Alice", which was played over the end credits and included on the soundtrack album Almost Alice. In February, Lavigne performed at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony. Lavigne's song "I'm with You" was sampled by Rihanna on the track "Cheers (Drink to That)", which is featured on Rihanna's fifth album, Loud (2010). "Cheers (Drink to That)" was released as a single the following year, and Lavigne appeared in its music video. In December 2010, American singer Miranda Cosgrove released "Dancing Crazy", a song written by Lavigne, Max Martin and Shellback. It was also produced by Martin.
Lavigne began recording for her fourth album, Goodbye Lullaby, in her home studio in November 2008. Its opening track, "Black Star", was written to help promote her first fragrance of the same name. Lavigne described the album as being about her life experiences rather than focusing on relationships, and its style as less pop rock than her previous material, reflecting her age. The release date for Goodbye Lullaby was delayed several times, which Lavigne said was because of her label. Goodbye Lullaby was released in March 2011, and its lead single, "What the Hell", premiered in December 2010, ahead of the album's release. Goodbye Lullaby received Juno Award nominations for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year. By March 2018, Goodbye Lullaby sold more than 500,000 copies in the US, and it was certified Gold by the RIAA.
2012–2017: Self-titled album
Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne announced that work on her fifth album had already begun, describing it as the musical opposite of Goodbye Lullaby and "pop and more fun again". In late 2011, she confirmed that she had moved to Epic Records, headed by L. A. Reid. Lavigne contributed two cover songs to the 2012 Japanese animated film One Piece Film: Z: "How You Remind Me" (originally by Nickelback) and "Bad Reputation" (originally by Joan Jett).
The lead single from Lavigne's fifth album, "Here's to Never Growing Up" (produced by Martin Johnson of the band Boys Like Girls), was released in April 2013 and reached top 20 positions on the Billboard Hot 100, Australia and the UK. The second single, "Rock n Roll", was released in August 2013 and the third, "Let Me Go" (featuring Lavigne's then-husband Chad Kroeger of Nickelback), was released in October 2013. The album, titled Avril Lavigne, was released in November 2013; in Canada, it was certified gold and received a Juno Award nomination for Pop Album of the Year. The fourth single from Avril Lavigne, "Hello Kitty", was released in April 2014. The music video sparked controversies over racism claims which Lavigne denied.
During mid-2014, Lavigne opened for boy band the Backstreet Boys' In a World Like This Tour and played at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo. She released a music video for "Give You What You Like", the fifth single from her self-titled album on February 10, 2015. The song is featured in Lifetime's made-for-TV movie, Babysitter's Black Book. By March 2018, the album sold more than 500,000 copies in the US, and it was certified Gold by the RIAA.
In an April 2015 interview with Billboard, Lavigne announced a new single titled "Fly", which was released on April 26 in association with the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
Lavigne was featured in the song "Listen" from Japanese rock band One Ok Rock's eighth album, Ambitions, released on January 11, 2017. She was also featured in the song "Wings Clipped" by Grey with Anthony Green for the duo's debut extended play Chameleon, released on September 29, 2017.
2019–2020: Head Above Water
Lavigne's sixth album Head Above Water was released on February 15, 2019, through BMG. The album reached the top ten in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and peaked at number thirteen on the U.S. Billboard 200. It was preceded by three singles: "Head Above Water", "Tell Me It's Over" and "Dumb Blonde", with the lead single drawing inspiration from Lavigne's battle with Lyme disease. The fourth single, "I Fell in Love with the Devil", was released on June 28, 2019. In support of the album, Lavigne embarked on the Head Above Water Tour, which started on September 14, 2019. European concerts were postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 24, 2020, Lavigne re-recorded the track "Warrior" from her sixth 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.
2021–present: Love Sux
On January 8, 2021, "Flames", a collaboration between Mod Sun and Lavigne, was released. In the subsequent month, Lavigne confirmed recording for her next album had been completed.
On July 16, 2021, Willow Smith released her fourth album, titled Lately I Feel Everything, with one of the tracks, "Grow", featuring Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker. A music video for the song was released in October of the same year.
After announcing on November 3, 2021, that she had signed with Barker's label DTA Records, Lavigne announced her new single titled "Bite Me", which was released on November 10. On January 13, 2022, Lavigne announced her seventh album Love Sux. Much of the album was written and produced by Lavigne's then boyfriend, pop punk artist Mod Sun. The second single off the record, "Love It When You Hate Me", was released on January 14, and featured American singer Blackbear. The album was subsequently released on February 25. Love Sux debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number three on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.
On June 13, 2022, a new edition of Let Go was released for the album's 20th anniversary. The record contains six previously unreleased bonus tracks, including Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway", which was originally written by Lavigne.
On September 13, 2022, Lavigne attended, presented and performed at the 15th Annual Academy of Country Music (ACM) Honors at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. She performed a cover of Shania Twain's "No One Needs to Know" and presented Twain with an ACM Poets Award. The cover received a positive reception.
On October 24, 2022, Lavigne announced the release of a single titled "I'm a Mess" featuring English singer Yungblud on November 3, 2022, as the lead single of the deluxe edition of Love Sux, which was released on November 25. While promoting "I'm a Mess", Lavigne confirmed she was working on her eighth album with John Feldmann, Barker, Yungblud and Alex Gaskarth of band All Time Low. "Fake as Hell", a collaboration between Lavigne and All Time Low, was eventually released as a single on September 15, 2023. On June 9, 2023, Lavigne did a live collaborative performance with country music artist Miranda Lambert during the 2023 CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. They performed a mashup of Lambert's "Kerosene" and Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi".
On May 10, 2024, Lavigne announced plans to release a greatest hits album on June 21, 2024. On May 16, 2024, Lavigne and country music artist Nate Smith released a collaborative single titled "Bulletproof" that was originally released as a solo single for Smith. Lavigne and Smith performed the song at the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards. In support of the album, Lavigne embarked her Greatest Hits Tour, which began on May 22, 2024 and concluded on September 18, 2024. On June 30, 2024, Lavigne played the world-famous Glastonbury Festival in England for the first time, drawing one of the largest crowds ever seen at the Other Stage.
On October 3, 2024, it was reported that Lavigne recorded another collaborative single with Smith titled "Can You Die from a Broken Heart". The song is featured on Smith's sophomore album California Gold and it was released as the third single from the album.
In 2025, Lavigne was featured on the single "77", which was featured on Billy Idol's album Dream Into It. They performed the song together on the April 28th episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On May 9, 2025, Lavigne released the single "Young & Dumb", featuring Simple Plan. Simple Plan and Lavigne had first toured together on Lavigne's first tour, the Try To Shut Me Up Tour, from 2002 until its conclusion in 2003, which served as the inspiration for the song.
Artistry
Musical style
Most critics have identified Lavigne as a pop, pop-punk, pop rock, power pop, alternative rock, and teen pop musician. Her first three albums were described as a mix of pop-punk, alternative rock and pop rock, with elements of post-grunge. Teen pop was also a major influence on Lavigne's first three albums, as most of her lyrics were from an adolescent perspective. This led critics to describe her music as alternateen or teen punk.
Her debut album, Let Go, has a slight grunge influence, while Lavigne, herself, was compared to other female artists with a similar sound, mainly Alanis Morissette. Her second album, Under My Skin, was noticeably darker, with heavier production, more ballads and a post-grunge sound that verged on nu metal, while keeping pop-punk influenced power chords. The album was seen as anticipating the "emotional intensity and theatrical aesthetics" of emo-pop before it came into the mainstream, and has been compared to heavier bands like Linkin Park and Evanescence. In contrast, The Best Damn Thing is more simplistic pop-punk that Blender wrote "sounded like Toni Basil cheerleading for Blink-182." Lavigne was praised for her ability to combine bubblegum pop melodies with punk rock riffs on the album.
Lavigne's sound went softer and poppier on her fourth and sixth albums, Goodbye Lullaby and Head Above Water respectively. They are characterized more by acoustic pop rock and less guitar-driven songs that were a signature of her earlier works. Despite this, songs on both albums have been labeled as pop-punk, including "Dumb Blonde" on the latter, a collaboration with Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, with elements of hip-hop. Meanwhile, her fifth album, Avril Lavigne, is more diverse, with a mix of dance-pop and harsher rock tracks, including "Hello Kitty", that experiments with J-pop, dubstep and EDM, and "Bad Girl", a collaboration with American rock musician Marilyn Manson, considered one of her heaviest songs. Lavigne returned to her pop-punk roots on her seventh album Love Sux, with the mainstream resurgence of the genre. She embraced emo-pop angst, and skate punk influences from NOFX, Blink-182, Green Day and the Offspring.
Lavigne possesses a soprano vocal range. Pat Blashill of Rolling Stone, in a review of "Sk8er Boi", described her voice as "equal parts baby girl and husky siren". Themes in her music include messages of self-empowerment from a female or an adolescent perspective. 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." 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.
Songwriting
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 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." 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." Her objective in writing the album was simply to "make it fun". Goodbye Lullaby, her 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."
While Lavigne said she was not angry, her interviews were still passionate about the media's lack of respect for her songwriting. She said, "I am a writer, and I won't accept people trying to take that away from me", adding that she had 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 Let Go, claimed they were the main songwriters of her singles "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi" and "I'm with You". Lavigne said that she was the primary songwriter for every song on the album, stating that "[N]one of those songs aren't from me".
In 2007, Chantal Kreviazuk, who wrote with Lavigne on Under My Skin, accused her of plagiarism and criticized her songwriting, saying that "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 apologized, saying that "Avril is an accomplished songwriter and it has been my privilege to work with her." Shortly after that, Tommy Dunbar, founder of the 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, a confidential settlement was reached between the parties.
Influences
Lavigne's earlier influences came from country music acts such as Garth Brooks, the Chicks, and Shania Twain, and alternative singer-songwriters such as Alanis Morissette, Lisa Loeb, Natalie Imbruglia, and Janis Joplin. By the time she left school to focus on her music career, Lavigne was musically more influenced by skate punk, pop punk, and punk rock acts such as Blink-182, the Offspring, Sum 41, NOFX, Pennywise, Green Day, the Ramones, the Distillers, and Hole. She also enjoyed metal bands such as Marilyn Manson and System of a Down, as well as alternative bands such as Nirvana, No Doubt, the Goo Goo Dolls, Radiohead, the Cranberries, Coldplay, Oasis, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, Incubus, Dashboard Confessional and the Used. Lavigne described Third Eye Blind's self-titled debut studio album as one of the biggest influences in her music career.