“Why should I care what other people think of me? I am who I am. And who I wanna be.” – Avril Lavigne
Canadian singer-songwriter and actress, Avril Lavigne took the music world by storm after signing her first record contract at the age of 16.
Here are a few things you might not know about The Pop Punk Princess herself: Avril Lavigne.
Avril Lavigne Facts
1. Skater Style
Avril has a best-selling fashion and lifestyle brand called Abbey Dawn, named after Lavigne’s childhood nickname. She is not just the name behind the brand, but also the designer, utilizing skulls, zebras, and hot pinks and blacks.
2. Small Town Girl
Avril is from a town called Napanee, Ontario, which is so small that the local pizza joint has named a pizza after her. For the record, it contains pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms. No pineapple. Because she’s not a monster.
3. Name of the Month
She was named “Avril” by her father after the French word for the month of April. Good thing she wasn’t born in October.
4. One Woman Band
A self-taught musician, Avril can play the guitar, piano, and drums.
5. Smells Like Teen Spirit
Avril’s favorite band is Nirvana, which is a bit surprising considering she’s young enough to have been the baby on the album cover for Nevermind.
6. Called It
At the age of 15, Lavigne won a radio contest and was given the opportunity to appear on stage with Shania Twain, Canadian music royalty. Lavigne apparently told Shania that she was going to become “a famous singer.”
7. Booked!
Lavigne was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing country covers in a Chapters bookstore in Kingston, Ontario.
8. School is for Suckers
After Antonio “L.A.” Reid, then head of Arista Records, heard Lavigne sing, he immediately signed her to deal worth $1.25 million with a $900,000 advance. At this point, Avril dropped out of school to focus on her music career.
9. Enter The Matrix
Working with The Matrix production team, she created two songs (including “Complicated”) that resulted in a major breakthrough in terms of finding Lavigne an individual sound. “Complicated” ended up being her debut single.
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10. Pretty Girls
When she first arrived on the scene, she was described by many as the “Anti-Britney” due to her less commercial and “real” image. Avril argued against this, saying, “I'm not made up and I'm not being told what to say and how to act, so they have to call me the anti-Britney, which I'm not."
11. With Glowing Hearts
Avril represented Canada at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She performed her song “Who Knows.”
Getty Images
12. Winter Wonder
She also performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC along with then-husband Chad Kroeger, Alanis Morissette, and Simple Plan.
13. Isn’t That Special
Continuing her long lasting relationship with the Olympic games, she released a single, “Fly,” in association with the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
14. None Shall Pass… Except Avril
Sir Ian McKellen once described Lavigne as “a punk chanteuse, a post-grunge valkyrie, with the wounded soul of a poet and the explosive pugnacity of a Canadian." Sir Ian McKellen may also be a poet...
15. The Sum of All Fears
In 2006, Avril married Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for the band Sum 41. Deryck secretly took Lavigne’s name.
16. Gone but not Forgotten
The couple was divorced after four years (just in time for the next Olympics), but Whibley and Lavigne still enjoyed a working relationship, with Whibley producing her fourth album and the single “Alice” written for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
17. Comic Relief
In 2007, Avril was featured in a two-volume graphic novel titled “Make 5 Wishes” about a shy girl named Hana who, upon meeting her hero Avril Lavigne, learns to overcome her fears and address the stress of modern angsty teenage life through escapism.
18. Avril Lavigne Featuring Chad Kroeger
After dating for one month, she married Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, which means there’s at least one other fan of Nickelback.
19. Let Me Go
Three years later, Lavigne announced on Instagram that she and Kroeger were separating, presumably after David Grohl’s mean tweets made her reconsider the union.
20. A Splash of Lyme
In 2015, Lavigne revealed that she had Lyme Disease, which is transmitted via infected ticks.
Wikimedia Commons, Luuk Denekamp
21. Secondhand Hits
Avril has co-written songs for other artists, including the song “Breakaway” sung by Kelly Clarkson. “Breakaway” was originally intended for Lavigne’s debut studio album Let Go but was deemed better suited to Kelly.
22. And the Oscar Goes to…
She’s appeared as actress in the films Over the Hedge (as a possum), Fast Food Nation (as a vegetarian activist), and The Flock (as the girlfriend of a serial abuser).
23. No “Ragrets”
Inspired by her then-boyfriend Brody Jenner, Avril had the name “Brody” tattooed beneath her right breast. They broke up two years later. It’s okay. She can just tell people she’s a huge fan of Adrien Brody.
24. She Got Game
These designs were featured in an online game called Stardoll, where you can dress Avril Lavigne and do her makeup. It’s a game targeted at young girls and creepy men.
25. Scent of a Woman
Avril has two perfumes, Black Star and Forbidden Rose, in case any of you have ever wanted to smell like Avril Lavigne and attract Chad Kroeger.
26. Avril vs. Zuckerberg
In a demonstration of his in-progress artificial intelligence system Jarvis, named after Tony Stark's AI from the Iron Man movies, Zuckerberg asked the program to "play us some good Nickelback songs."
"I'm sorry Mark, I'm afraid I can't do that," replied Jarvis. "There are no good Nickelback songs."
Avril fired back over Twitter, accusing him of bullying Nickelback.
27. Pretty in Ink
Avril is famous for having quite a few tattoos including ink of the F word on her ribs.
