Avril Lavigne

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Biography

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Avril Ramona Lavigne (/ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, and spent most of her youth in the town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. In 2002, when she was 17 years old, Lavigne entered the music industry with her debut album Let Go, becoming one of the most popular pop punk artists, a reason she earned her reputation of a "skater punk" persona and "pop punk princess". Since her professional debut she has sold more than 30 million albums and over 50 million singles worldwide.

Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Her mother is of English, Scottish, and German descent, and her father, Jean-Claude Joseph Lavigne, is of French descent. She was named "Avril" by her father after the French word for the month of April. He and Lavigne's mother, Judy, recognized their child's vocal abilities when she was two years old and sang "Jesus Loves Me" on the way home from 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 a population of approximately 5,000. Although she has been struggling with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ever since she was a child and was sometimes kicked out of class for misbehaving, her parents supported her singing. Her father bought her a microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, and several guitars, and converted their basement into a studio; following his own love for music Jean-Claude led the family to church at Third Day Worship Center in Kingston, Ontario where he often played bass. When Lavigne was 14 years old, her parents took 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".^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia [1]

• Cifuentes, Nick, "Justin Bieber, Ryan Gosling and Avril Lavigne Are Related", see accompanying chart, (accessed 06/03/2014), Ancestry.com (Online Database).
• IMDb, "Avril Lavigne Biography"[2], (accessed 02/13/2015).