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Canadian singer, Avril Lavigne came into view at a young age, sharing the stage with Shania Twain at 15 and through the years selling more than 40 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. This makes her the 2nd best-selling Canadian female of all time, behind Celine Dion. Lavigne is not your average cookie-cutter pop star, gearing her image more towards pop punk and is never shy to share her thoughts or opinions. Let’s look back at some of her memorable moments and see what she’s up to today.
After performing at various county fairs and local contests, Lavigne entered a radio contest to perform with Shania Twain in Ottawa before 20,000 people. She later told Shania she’d be a famous singer. Talk about tenacity.
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In 2000, then-head of Arista Records, L.A. Reid saw a video of Lavigne singing and invited her to a studio in Manhattan for a 15-minute audition. He was so impressed, he offered her a $2 million deal for two albums. By this time, Lavigne had found her place in school among the skaters and began cultivating her image towards this.
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2002, Lavigne released her debut album Let Go. It reached the No.2 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, and by the end of the year, the album was certified four-times Platinum by RIAA. By 2009, Let Go has sold over 16 million units worldwide.
Let Go spawned three singles, “Complicated”, “Sk8er Boi”, and “I’m With You”. All three were top ten singles with “Complicated” peaking at number two and becoming one of the decade’s biggest hits.
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In 2004, Lavigne released her sophomore album, Under My Skin. This album went five-times Platinum in Canada and has sold over 10 million copies. Lavigne co-wrote most of the songs this album showcasing her songwriting skills.
The singles off this album included, “Don’t Tell Me”, “My Happy Ending”, and “Nobody’s Home”.
She also co-wrote Kelly Clarkson‘s song, “Breakaway” which was included on the soundtrack for the film “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement“. It later went on to be included on Clarkson’s debut album Breakaway.
She also posed for the cover of Maxim magazine.
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In 2005, boyfriend Deryck Whibley, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist of Sum 41, proposed to Lavigne after dating the singer since the age of 19. They were married in July 2006, but called it quits in 2009 with the divorce finalized in 2010.
Lavigne voiced the character of Heather in the animated film Over the Edge in 2006. The film grossed $336 million worldwide.
“Girlfriend“, the lead single, became Lavigne’s first number one US single and one of the decade’s biggest songs. The song was recorded in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Mandarin.
For her work on The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne won two World Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, a Teen Choice Award, and was nominated for five Juno Awards. She was also ranked number eight on Forbes magazine’s ‘Top 20 Earners Under 25’ earning $12 million. The Best Damn World Tour kicked of in March 2008.
Following this success, Lavigne launched the clothing line Abbey Dawn, produced by Kohl’s. All the clothes were designed by her and featured a back to school collection.
Lavigne performed at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony. More of her music was sampled and performed by other artists as well. Rihanna sampled her song “I’m With You” for “Cheers (Drink to That)” and Miranda Cosgrove released “Dancing Crazy“, a song co-written by Lavigne.
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Lavigne released her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby in March 2011. More of an adult album for her, she described it more as being about her life experiences, rather than relationships.
“What The Hell” was the lead single off Goodbye Lullaby. It reached number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
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Lavigne began dating Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger in 2012. They became engaged after one month of dating and were married in the south of France July 1, 2013 (Canada Day). In September 2015, Lavigne announced she and Kroeger had separated via Instagram.
In 2013, Lavigne released her fifth album, Avril Lavigne, with the singles, “Here’s to Never Growing Up“, “Rock n Roll“, and “Let Me Go“. It was not as successful as her previous albums, only selling 125,000 copies in the US, but went gold in Canada.
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During an interview with People, Lavigne revealed she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease.