Avril Ramona Lavigne (born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, actress, and philanthropist. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent the majority of her youth in the small town of Napanee.
In 2002 an eighteen-year-old Canadian newcomer named Avril Lavigne swept on to the U.S. music scene with her debut disc, Let Go. By the end of the year, three singles from the album, including "Complicated," broke into the top ten of the Billboard charts, and Let Go was the second best-selling CD of the year.
Lavigne's music scored high with fans and critics, but so did her personal style, which consisted of wearing loose pants, tank tops, and neckties. As a result, she sparked a fashion trend and was heralded in the press as a "skater-punk," an alternative to pop princesses, like Britney Spears (1981–), whose look and videos had started to become increasingly more provocative.
In May 2004 Lavigne released her second album, Under My Skin, which debuted at number one not only in the United States, but also in many other countries, including Germany, Spain, and Japan. By the end of 2005 Avrilmania was showing no signs of slowing—Lavigne was performing to sold-out crowds on an extended concert tour and in April she took home top honors at the Juno Awards, which are considered to be the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Grammy Awards.
