Avril Lavigne

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This article is about the artist. For the album, see Avril Lavigne (album).

Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne at KIIS FM's annual Wango Tango Concert in Carson, California in May 2013
Background information
Birth name	Avril Ramona Lavigne
Born	27 September 1984 (age 29) Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Pop punk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, entrepreneur^[1]
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, drums
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Arista, RCA, Epic
Associated acts	Evan Taubenfeld, Deryck Whibley, Chad Kroeger
Website	avrillavigne.com
Notable instruments
Squier Signature Telecaster model guitar

Avril Ramona Lavigne (/ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; AV-ril lə-VEEN; born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She also holds French^[2]^[3]^{[note 1]} citizenship. 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 broke onto the music scene with her debut album Let Go. Since her professional debut she has sold more than 30 million albums and over 50 million singles worldwide.^[4]
Let Go made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to reach number 1 in the UK. As of 2013, it has sold nearly 7 million copies in the United States^[5] and over 17 million copies worldwide.^[6] Her breakthrough single, "Complicated", peaked at number 1 in many countries around the world, as did the album Let Go. Her second album, Under My Skin, was released in May 2004 and was her first album to peak at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, eventually selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne’s third album, was released in 2007, becoming her third number 1 album in the UK Albums Chart and featuring her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number 1 single, "Girlfriend". Lavigne has scored six number-one singles worldwide, including "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home", and "Girlfriend". Lavigne is one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over 11 million copies certified by the RIAA. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, was released in March 2011. Goodbye Lullaby gave Lavigne her fourth top 10 album on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart and her third number 1 album in both Japan and Australia. Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne began work on her eponymous titled fifth studio album, which was released by Epic Records on 1 November 2013^[7]^[8]^[9] following her departure from RCA Records.
Lavigne branched out from recording music, pursuing careers in feature film acting and designing clothes and perfumes. She voiced a character in the animated film Over the Hedge in 2006. That same year, she made her on-screen feature film debut in Fast Food Nation. In 2008, Lavigne introduced her clothing line, Abbey Dawn, and in 2009, she released her first perfume, Black Star, which was followed by her second perfume, Forbidden Rose, in 2010 and her third perfume, Wild Rose, in 2011. In July 2006, Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for Sum 41. The marriage lasted a little over three years, and in October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce. Whibley and Lavigne continued to work together, with Whibley producing her fourth album, as well as Lavigne's single, "Alice", written for Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland. Lavigne married Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, in 2013.

1 Early life
2 Music career
3 Musical style and songwriting
4 Other work
5 Personal life
6 Backing band
7 Filmography
8 Discography
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
Avril Lavigne
Fashion Design

"I just love clothes and colors and patterns. I'm very visual and very hands-on." — Lavign^e
Relationships

Marriage to Deryck Whibley

Lavigne's ex-husband, Deryck Whibley.

Lavigne and Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for the band Sum 41, began dating when Lavigne was 19 years old, after being friends since she was 17.^[188] Only a few weeks before they met, Lavigne admitted that she was not meeting boys because her bodyguards were frightening them away. In June 2005, Whibley surprised Lavigne with a trip to Venice, including a gondola ride and a romantic picnic, and on 27 June, he proposed to her.^[189]
She at first wanted to have a "rock n' roll, goth wedding", but she admitted to having doubts about going against tradition. "I've been dreaming about my wedding day since I was a little girl. I have to wear the white dress.... People thought that I would [wear a] black wedding dress, and I would have. But at the same time, I was thinking about the wedding pictures, and I wanted to be in style. I didn't want to be thinking, 20 years later, 'Oh, why did I wear my hair like that?'"^[190]
The wedding was held on 15 July 2006. About 110 guests attended the wedding, which was held at a private estate in Montecito, California.^[191] Lavigne, wearing a gown designed by Vera Wang walked down the aisle with her father, Jean-Claude, to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March". Lavigne chose a colour theme of red and white, including red rose petals and centrepieces of distinctly coloured flowers. The wedding included cocktails for an hour before the reception and a sit-down dinner. The song "Iris", by the Goo Goo Dolls, was played during Lavigne and Whibley's first dance.^[192]
Seven months into their marriage, Lavigne stated that she was "the best thing that's ever happened to him", and suggested that she helped Whibley stay off drugs since they had begun dating. "He doesn't do drugs. Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I wouldn't be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started dating. I've never done cocaine in my life, and I'm proud of that. I am 100 percent against drugs."^[190] The marriage lasted a little more than three years. It was announced on 17 September 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow.^[193] On 9 October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce, releasing the statement, "I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship."^[188] The divorce was finalized on 16 November 2010, officially ending the marriage.^[194]

Marriage to Chad Kroeger
Lavigne began dating fellow Canadian rocker Chad Kroeger, frontman of the band Nickelback, in July 2012.^[195]^[196]^[197]^[198] The relationship blossomed after they began working together in March 2012 to write and record music for Lavigne's fifth album.^[196]^[199]^[198] Lavigne and Kroeger became engaged in August 2012, after one month of dating.^[199]^[195] The couple married in the South of France on 1 July 2013, which is Canada Day.^[198] They had their honeymoon in Portofino, Italy.^[200]