Juno Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter Avril Ramona Lavigne has made a name for herself as being a distinctly un-manufactured musician who has made it known that she relies on her musical talents instead of sex appeal to sell her CDs. In the past she has spoken out publicly against fellow teenie idol Britney Spears, by insulting her fashion sense and style.

Born on September 27, 1984, in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, a town of 5,000 residents, Lavigne played baseball and hockey throughout grade school. She has a younger sister and an older brother.

At the age of two she began singing along church songs with her mother, Judy Lavigne. When she was five she started to sing in the church choir and taught herself how to play the guitar. By the age of ten Lavigne was singing in country music competitions.

Three years later, when she was thirteen, Lavigne won a grand prize on a radio station contest where the prize was a trip to Ottawa to perform a duet with country music star Shania Twain.

In high school Lavigne began sending videotapes of her performances to labels and management companies throughout North America. Her musical skills eventually caught the attention of Nettwerk Management, an agency that also represented other Canadian stars such as Sarah McLachlan, Sum 41, and Barenaked Ladies.

But as Nettwerk was getting ready to fly Lavigne to New York City to begin work on a demo tape, she was signed on with Arista Records strictly as a vocalist.

She moved to Manhattan with her older brother Matt to begin her professional career. However, Lavigne didn’t like the idea of singing someone else’s songs and didn’t click with any of the New York-based songwriters.

After another move to Los Angeles, Lavigne met producer and songwriter Cliff Magness. The two got along well and began composing songs together. A few months later Lavigne’s debut album began to take shape.

In the spring of 2002 Lavigne released her first single, “Complicated.” It reached the top spot among Canadian singles by that summer and paved the way for her first full-length CD Let Go, which debuted at #8 on the Billboard charts in June 2002.

Lavigne’s second album Under My Skin, which was released on May 25, 2004, in the U.S., debuted at #one in the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong. The album was written with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, Ben Moody (formerly from the band, Evanescence), and a few other musicians.

At the 2004 World Music Awards Lavigne won two awards for World's Best Pop/Rock Artist and World's Best-Selling Canadian Artist. In 2005 she received five Juno Award nominations and won three: the Fan Choice Award, the Artist of the Year, and the Pop Album of the Year.

She also co-wrote the single “Breakaway” from American idol winner Kelly Clarkson’s second album, Breakaway.

In the winter of 2006 Lavigne sang at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. That May she made her film debut in the animated film, Over the Hedge where she voiced Heather.

On July 15, 2006 Lavigne married Deryck Whibley the lead singer of the punk rock band, Sum 41.

YUDDY