Skater girl to mega star! Avril Lavigne has been making music for more than two decades.
“I went in without deadlines, pressure [or] people telling me what direction to go in. I went in, I was like, ‘F—k this s—t, I’m making the album I’ve always wanted to make,’” the “Sk8er Boi” songstress exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2022 of recording her Love Sux album earlier that year. “I also just wanna have fun and rock out right now. So the album, I was like, let’s make a pop-punk record from front to back. Like, all my albums have been diverse … but, like, this song, this style and spirit has carried with me through my whole career from the first album to now.”
She added at the time: “Even though the album’s called Love Sux, it’s kind of just, like, all about the crazy things that it puts us through, but it’s very lighthearted and there’s a sense of humor that goes through it. Kind of just, like, having fun with all the stuff that we go through [because] it’s just inevitable. I’ve learned to laugh at, like, all the ridiculous things that love does to us. It’s very tongue-in-cheek. I mean, I started making this record coming out of a breakup. … I’m a woman now writing from all of my experience in life, and it felt fun to just, like, really go there.”
Lavigne — born and raised in Ontario, Canada — was first discovered in 1999, when she won a radio contest to perform with Shania Twain during one of her concerts. One year later, the Abbey Dawn designer was offered her first record deal with Arista Records. Lavigne’s first single, “Complicated,” was released in March 2002 before the debut of her album Let Go.
“It’s difficult to be a woman and to be heard, and people sometimes don’t take you seriously,” Lavigne told The Guardian in January 2019. “I’m highly intuitive and I’ve always got a very strong gut feeling. I’ve always felt that I’ve known what’s best for me to do and I’ve had to fight different people on this journey over those 17 years: ‘You need to do this and it needs to go Top 40.’ You make those songs ‘cause you have to, but then the stuff that’s the best on record is the album tracks.”
She continued: “I would get some songs [in] the style I really wanted. I always loved the pop-rock thing and it’s still who I am. I’m still proud of those songs and I wrote them. It wasn’t like people wrote them and gave it to me. It was like: ‘OK, I get it. You guys want singles that are going in this direction. Fine, I’ll work with you, but I’d rather be doing something else.’ You can’t be stubborn and just do everything your own way.”
Scroll below to revisit the “Girlfriend” singer’s most memorable moments through the years:
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August 29, 2002
Avril Lavigne, wearing a tie around her neck, posed with her award for Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. “When I was 17, I was such a tomboy,” Lavigne told The Huffington Post in September 2011. “I would wear something in my music video and then wear the same thing on the red carpet.”
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February 23, 2003
The “Sk8er Boi” singer wore a suit-inspired ensemble at the 45th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Lavigne flashed the inside of her coat to photographers, which said “rock on.”
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April 3, 2004
Lavigne wore a pinstriped blazer and black streaks in her hair to Nickelodeon’s 17th annual Kids’ Choice Awards. “After the release of my first album, I realized how much fashion was involved in my musical career,” Lavigne told The Huffington Post in September 2011. “With a lot of the designs, I try to tie in some of my lyrics and more musical elements.”
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September 16, 2004
The “I’m With You” singer curled her blonde locks and matched her guitar with her dress to The Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas during the World Music Awards show.
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April 26, 2006
Lavigne attend Us Weekly’s 2006 Hot Hollywood party at Republic Restaurant & Lounge in Los Angeles. The singer smiled on the carpet in a black and gray striped dress with a studded belt.
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November 9, 2007
The singer and the-husband Deryck Whibley attended the grand opening of KOI Las Vegas at The Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The couple split in July 2010 after four years of marriage. “We’re not doing each other but yes, we’re friends,” Lavigne told Chelsea Hander in March 2011. “I really respect him as a person and as an artist so it’s all good.”
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September 14, 2008
Fashion designer Lavigne took the stage at her Abbey Dawn fashion show at Laforet Harajuku in Tokyo, Japan.
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February 26, 2010
Lavigne looked stunning in a fitted black gown at the premiere of Alice in Wonderland at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. Staying true to her unique style, the singer wore matching black streaks in her hair.
