Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne, in full Avril Ramona Lavigne, (born September 27, 1984, Belleville, Ontario, Canada), Canadian singer and songwriter who achieved great success as a teenager. She was known for a grungy pop-rock sound.

Lavigne grew up in Napanee, Ontario. Her natural singing ability was evident by age two, and she began singing at church and at local events. Christian tunes and country songs dominated her early singing, and her parents, in line with their strict Christian faith, carefully monitored her choice of music. Her singing ability and precocious confidence caught the attention of her first manager, who spotted her at a 1999 performance in a bookstore, when she was 14 years old. That same year she won a contest to perform a duet with Canadian icon Shania Twain before an audience of 20,000. In 1999–2000 Lavigne contributed vocals on the albums of local folksinger Stephen Medd.