Name: Avril Ramona Lavigne
Birthday: September 27, 1984
Age: 23
Star Sign: Libra
Hometown: Napanee, Ontario, Canada
Currently Living in: Los Angeles, California
Shoe size: 7
Height: 5'3"
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue-Green
Family:
Parents: Judy and John
Siblings: Matt, Michelle
Spouse: Deryck Whibley
Pets: a miniature schnauzer, "Sam"
Favorites:
Colors: black, red, pink
Pizza Toppings: Olives
Clothes: Dickies, Osiris (shoes)
Bands: Goo Goo Dolls, System of a Down, Matchbox 20, Green Day, Sum 41, Blink 182
Song on her first Album: Losing Grip
Places To Visit: Italy, Paris, and Stockholm
Other Info:
Instruments: Guitar, she taught herself how to play, piano, drums
Piercings: Navel (Inny), 2 in one ear, one in the other
Special Talents: Can bite and suck her toes
Tattoos: 'Avril' star on the inside of her left wrist, a 'D' in a heart on her right wrist, a blue star on her leg, a blue star on her back, a blue star on her right forearm, a red star on her right arm, a black star on her hip.
Did You Know...?
? Avril was parodied in Good Charlotte's video, "Girls and Boys".
? Michelle Lavigne appears in the Sk8er Boi video.
? Avril got free Osiris sneakers at the mall where the Complicated video was shot.
? Avril's cousin, Martine Filion travelled to Ottawa (from Napanee) just to see Avril perform.
? Avril fixed her hair in braids all around her hair when she was in 11th grade.
? Avril is good friends with Pink and Vanessa Carlton.
? Avril's brother, Matt, accompanied her to New York City when she was still starting out.
? Once, in New York City, a man thought that Avril was a hooker. She's been carrying around a pocket knife ever since that incident.
? She wasn't the most popular girl at school.
? One of Avril's favorite countries is Italy.
? Avril's favorite song off of Let Go is Losing Grip, her favorite off of Under My Skin is Together, and her favorite off of The Best Damn Thing is I Can Do Better.
? Avril is lactose intolerant.
? Avril taught herself to play her dad's 6 string guitar when she was 12.
? Avril plays the guitar live on stage.
? You can see Deryck Whibley frequently at Avril's concerts.
? Justin Timberlake and Eminem are big Avril fans.
? "Let Go", her CD, was originally called "Anything But Ordinary".
? Avril's most embarrassing moment was when her mom went to pick her up at a party when she was 14.
? Avril chooses to wear a watch on her right arm.
? She sang her first church solo when she was 10. She sang NEAR THE HEART OF GOD, "She sang like a song bird" remembers her mom. (YM October 2002)
? Listed in Teen People's "What's Next" 2003.
? She frequently says that she has not claimed to be punk. Check out YM June 2002.
? Avril's manager, Terry McBride is also the manager for Dido.
? Avril got her record deal at age 16.
? She played on a hockey team at age 10.
? Hilary Duff dressed up as Avril on Halloween.
? Avril gets kicked out of clubs and bars frequently.
? She likes to play her acoustic guitar better when she first writes her songs and than she likes to play the electric during her concerts the best.
? She brings along a joke book while her and the group travels.
? Avril plays a Gibson-Les Paul Studio in Black, and her own signature Fender Telecaster.
? Her fav. article of clothing are her Converse sneakers.
? She was signed to Nettwork at age 14 when she was at a bookstore.
? Avril does NOT do all of her own make-up. She sometimes gets help from professionals during photoshoots, and music videos.
? Avril's High School was called 'Napanee District Secondary School'.
? At the age of 12 she won a radio competition to duet with Shania Twain.
? She likes the UK alot but she finds it expensive and she doesn't like the weather!
? Avril can fit into the suitcase which she takes on tour with her.
? She got suspended from school three times for skipping lessons and starting fights.
? Her middle name is Ramona.
? She gave Steve from Sum 41 a wedgie at a club in NYC.
? She cannot eat her favourite food pizza because it is bad for her voice+vocals.
? She used to use a camo lunchbox as a wallet.
? She won't pay $6 for a sandwich. "That's soo much."
? When she was looking in a BMW car showroom her dad said why don't you buy one, but Avril got angry and said she just wanted a used jeep!
? She says she could pull off a backside ollie kickflip when she was in High School.
? She can ollie over her miniature schnauzer, Sam.
? Avril doesn't like copy-cats. She is flattered that girls dress like her, though!
? Avril doesn't like to follow trends and wears whatever she wants.
? Avril once kissed a boy on the cheek in 1st grade....don't worry, it was in a play.
? Avril taught her self how to skate, when she was just 14.
? Avril uses peach lipstick or tanish white. Avril uses chapstick most of the time.
? If Avril would make a sandwich to eat it would have: olives, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mayonnaise and ham/or turkey meat.
? Avril loves pizza that has lots of olives on top.
? Avril's Favorite sodas are: Coke, Grape, and Root Beer
? Avril loves sleepovers. "I love being with the girls."
? Every month, Avril goes to a special place in Hollywood to get a Brazilian Bikini Wax.
? Avril says she had a love for music at an early age. "When I was like six, I had this little plastic flute thingy and I liked to march through the house blowing it. I was a good blower. It drove my mom crazy though!"
? Avril likes to wear black and white stripe socks.
? Avril has two piercings on her left ear and one on her right ear.
? Avril has asthma.
? She was named the MVP of her hockey team when she was 12.
? Avril loves the feel of new socks on her feet.
? Like any other Artist Avril works out. She does 50 push ups a day but not Sundays. She skateboards, goes rock climbing, rides the bike for 1 hour a day and does 100 sit ups.
? Avril knew at the grammy's she wasn't gonna win, she told one MTV reporter, "Naw, I am not gonna have it..I am not gonna win."
? Avril can't eat really spicy food because she gets heartburn.
? Avril likes the band Simple Plan and had them open up a gig for some of her tour stops.
? An interviewer asked Avril what posters were on her wall. She responded, "Posters? I've got platinum disks!"
? Avril never uses a straightener for her hair.
? Avril is allergic to bees.
? Avril felt bad about the "fried chicken ass" line in "My World," and went back to apologize to the manager of the chicken place she worked at.
? Avril used to be afraid of flying in planes.
? Avril loves playing video games.
? Hilary Duff was offended when Avril said she didn't want her fans to dress like her. Hilary reacted rudely.
Anything but ordinary. That's putting it mildly when describing Avril Lavigne. A skater-punk, a dynamic spirit, a true wild child. One of those rare creatures who started wowing people with her voice and character at around age 2. She was in many talent shows as a child. She got her first guitar at a young age.
"I always knew this was what I had to do," she says. "I remember when I was really young, standing on my bed like it was a stage, singing at the top of my lungs and visualizing thousands of people surrounding me". She segued from her bedroom to singing, well, whenever and wherever she could-starting in church singing gospel music, and on to festivals, then singing country music at fairs and talent contests-until she was discovered by Arista Records.
She broke out of Napanee, Ontario when she was 16. She had been writing her own songs ever since she got her first guitar and has been skateboarding ever since she was 14. A startlingly up-front and outrageous 17-year-old with everything it takes to reach stardom-completely on her own terms. "I'm just coming out and I'm going to clearly be myself-I write what I feel, I never worry what others think, " Avril avows. "I'm gonna dress what's me, I'm gonna act what's me and I'm gonna sing what's me".
Avril does exactly that on her debut CD, Let Go, flaunting sassy vocals, a crystal clear voice with real-girl lyrical style. "Anything But Ordinary" is a rockin' ode to individuality, while guitar-driven first single, "Complicated," is a simple song that kicks pretenders to the curb. The string-inflected "I'm With You" reaches out for connection to reflect Avril's more mellower side, but tracks like "Losing Grip" and "Unwanted" courageously confront rejection and betrayal with all the heaviness such subjects demand. Then there's "My World" and the metaphoric "Mobile," which perfectly articulate the Avril experience. "I have this awesome opportunity to fulfill my dream. I am all over the place, flying here and there, going through different stuff every day," she explains. "This is my lifestyle, but I wouldn't want a normal life or I'd get bored".
While she was in New York, she got signed to Arista Records by L.A Reid. "I don't like it when people say that Antonio "L.A" Reid discovered me. I discovered myself." Avril says. It pisses her off if anyone says something about L.A discovering her. This seventeen year old is very unique. She wrote every single one of her songs. "Everytime I got home, I went to my guitar and wrote a song about what happened to me that day. I don't care if nobody cares because it's the way I'm feeling and that's what I'm going to write about." Avril says, about the inspiration for her songs. That's what makes Avril so unique. She writes her own songs and she refuses to do something that she doesn't want to do. For instance, take a photo shoot. "At one photo shoot, they tried to glam me all up and I didn't like it. They just wouldn't listen to me." she says.
Although Avril virtually lived in the studio during that New York stint, her efforts didn't pay off at first. "I started working with these really talented people, but I just wasn't feeling it; the songs weren't representative of me," she admits. "Then they started talking about having people write for me, but I had to write myself. I had to do my music. It was a really stressful time, but I never considered giving up." Instead, she flipped coasts. Los Angeles gave Avril the fresh start she needed.
It was there that she hooked up with producer/songwriter Clif Magness, and "I was like, "Yeah! I've found my guy!'" she enthuses. "We totally clicked, because he just let me guide; he really understood me and let me do my thing." The songs for Let Go began pouring out, with Magness at the helm as well as up-and-coming production team the Matrix. Soon after Avril hooked up with Nettwerk Management who've steered the careers of Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Coldplay, Barenaked Ladies and Sum 41.
Avril couldn't be happier with the way the album turned out. "In this past year I've really grown as a writer. 'Complicated' wasn't written about anyone in particular. It is basically about life, people being fake and relationships." As to one of her favorite tracks, "Losing Grip," she says, "That is definitely one of my ex-boys-he didn't give me what I needed emotionally." Avril laughs, "It doesn't matter now, and plus I got a good song out of it."
Her album "Under My Skin" opens with the dramatic tracks "Take Me Away" and "Together," which set the scene for the kick-ass guitars and radio-ready chorus of "Don't Tell Me," a song of willful female empowerment that picks up where "Complicated" left off. From there it's a one-two punch of three-chord guitar licks ("He Wasn't") and head-bopping optimism ("Who Knows") alongside swirling, brooding melodies ("Freak Out") and moody tracks ("Forgotten," "Nobody's Home") that reveal a darker side of Avril Lavigne.
"I grew up so much in the past two years," admits the Napanee, Ontario, native. "I've been through a lot, I've learned a lot, and experienced a lot both good and bad. These songs are about all of that, and each is very personal to me." Working with producers, Butch Walker (of the Marvelous 3), Raine Maida (of Our Lady Peace), Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Pearl Jam), Avril co-wrote the dozen introspective songs on Under My Skin in near secrecy. "I'd just come off my world tour and got back to Toronto and was writing right away," the 19-year-old says. "I had no idea what I was going to do. No one did. People wondered if I'd run out of things to write about, but it was the opposite."
After a lunch date with fellow Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk turned into a major chick-bonding session, Avril and Chantal sat down to write. The chemistry was ineffable. "We got together one night and all of a sudden we had a song," she says. "No one knew what I was up to, not my management, not my label." The duo got together the next night and wrote another song. "We did that for two weeks and wrote 12 songs." Momentum took over and by summer Avril was moving into Chantal and her husband Raine Maida's Malibu house to record. "I was only off my tour for a couple of weeks, and I was ready to record," Avril recalls.
The California air provided a needed escape from Avril's frantic life. "It was a great time for me, living out there, being out of the public eye, and having my independence. And my friendship with Chantal evolved into one of the best I've ever had." Chantal and Avril would spend all night in the studio perfecting the songs. During the day, Avril learned the city by driving to and from the studio and wherever she needed to be. No photos, no interviews, no pressure. Eventually they recorded most of the songs in Raine's studio, and those songs appear unaltered on Under My Skin. The rest of the tracks, co-written with her guitarist Evan Taubenfeld (and one track with former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody), were cut just up the road. "I was involved in every aspect of making this record. I'm very hands-on," she says. "I knew how I wanted the drums, the guitar tones, and the structures to be. I understand the whole process so much better this time because I've been through it. I'm really picky with my sound."
Picking favorites out of her 12 hand-made babies is another matter. "They all mean so much to me, but I love 'Together,' which is all about being in a relationship and knowing it's not right. It's a song that basically says, it's not working out honey." A couple of other tracks mine dysfunctional relationships and have hooks as catchy as those on "Complicated" and real-life narratives (like "Sk8er Boi"), but what truly underscores Avril's growth are the more positive tracks, such as "Who Knows" and "Take Me Away." "I guess that's just the way that I am now," admits the former supposed attitude junkie. Deep, piano-driven tracks like "Together" and "Forgotten" reflect Avril's growth, maturity, and change since the release of Let Go. "I'm happy with what I'm doing and have faith that everything is going to work out for the best." She's also found a feminine side to offset her well-publicized tomboyishness. "I'm such a chick. I'm a hopeless romantic, and surprisingly old-fashioned," Avril laughs. "That's why I wrote a song about not giving it up to just any guy ["Don't Tell Me"]." Girly quirks aside, Avril's anxious to get the show on the road. "It feels so good to be singing new songs," she says. "I feel refreshed and I'm looking forward to the next thing."
Optimistic or melancholic, Avril's two-year wild-ride on the rock-star express has shaped her world view and taught her a whole lot about balance. "The songs on Under My Skin are definitely deeper than those on Let Go," she says, "But I still love a good pop song. I'm basically just a girl who likes to write, who likes to rock out, and who wants music to be a part of my life forever."
But Avril's music is capable of reaching the girls and the guys, and more than a few adventurous adults too-and she's chomping at the bit to bring it to 'em. "I can't wait to be out there; I want to rock the world! I want people to know that my music is real and honest - it came from my heart. I was just being true to myself."
* Al Berry- bass guitar, backing vocals (2007 - present)
* Rodney Howard - drums, percussion, backing vocals (2007 - present)
* Stephen Anthony Ferlazzo Jr. - electronic keyboard, backing vocals (2007 - present)
* Jim McGorman - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007 - present)
* Steve Fekete - lead guitar (January 2008 - present)
* Sofia Toufa - backing vocals, dancer (2007 - present)
* Lindsey Blaufarb - backing vocals, dancer (2007 - present)
* Sara, Caily, Casper and Venom - The Best Damn Tour dancers
Past members
* Mark Spicoluk - bass guitar, backing vocals (April 2002 - September 2002)
* Jesse Colburn - rhythm guitar (2002 - October 2003)
* Evan Taubenfeld - lead guitar, backing vocals (2002 - July 2004)
* Craig Wood - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (April 2004 - January 2007)
* Matt Brann - drums, percussion (2002 - February 2007)
* Charlie Moniz - bass guitar (2002 - February 2007)
* Devin Bronson - lead guitar, backing vocals (2004- December 2007)
