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Feisty young songstress Avril Lavigne was born in the small Canadian town of Belleville, Ontario. She discovered her passion for music while singing along to her mother's church hymns,and her parents have always strongly supported her choice to break into the recording industry. Avril was also supported by Canada's close music scene, and it was a fellow folk-singer who got her introduced to her manager. But it was her talent that got her interviews with L.A. Reid and a record deal on Arista. Avril went to solid hit-making production team The Matrix for help on her breakout debut, Let Go, which spawned four hit radio singles including "Complicated" and "Sk8r Boi." Avril, who was then 17 and a self-proclaimed tom-boy/bad-girl, uses her songs to chronicle the highs and lows of adolescent life?boys, and why they usually suck, took the worst of it throughout. The music featured guitars turned up not quite loud enough to scare off anyone's parents and an undeniable hooky pop sensibility. Avril also caught the press's attention with rude interviews and a punky style?for the first period of her career, she never went out in public without sporting a necktie and she often wore spiked cuffs and skull-and-crossbones t-shirts. But with one foot in the skate park and the other in Nickelodeon territory, Avril went for a more sophisticated image and a feminine sound on 2004's Under My Skin. She's happy to acknowledge the stylistic change, pointing out that everyone needs to grow up, she just had to do it under media scrutiny. Under My Skin debuted at #1 and produced the hit Don't Tell Me among a few others. Avril Lavigne recently married her boyfriend Deryck Whibley, singer/guitarist for fellow Canadian band Sum 41.

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