Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne, a small-town kid who couldn't sit still in class, started amazing people with her voice and character at around age 2. A wonderfully up-front and outrageous 17-year-old with everything it takes to reach

stardom-completely on her own terms. "I'm just coming out and I'm going to clearly be myself-I write what I feel, I never worry what others think, " Avril declares. "I'm gonna dress what's me, I'm gonna act what's me and I'm gonna sing what's me."

A middle child who "always wanted to be the center of attention," she was bound to bust out of Napanee, Ontario, population 5,000. "I always knew this was what I had to do," she says. "I remember when I was really young, standing on my bed like it was a stage, singing at the top of my lungs and visualizing thousands of people surrounding me."

"I love writing," she explains. "When I get upset and really need to get it out of me I go to my guitar. Sometimes I feel like my guitar is my therapist."

Now that her album is done, Avril can't wait to get out and play. She jokes, pointing out that touring with her own sk8er punk band of rocker boys probably won't be all that different from her childhood, "I was always a tomboy and I guess I still am. I played hockey during the fall /winter and baseball in the summer. I loved playing with the boys.

艾薇儿，她是那种大约两岁左右，就能够以声音引起人们注意的怪胎。她是那种没有办法乖乖坐在课堂上的女孩。她是那种完全靠着自己的力量，完成成为一名名人的17岁女孩。“我才刚出道，我要清楚我自己做我自己，我写出自己的感受，从不在乎其他人怎么想。”艾薇儿坦诚的说道。“我要穿出本色。做出本色，做出本色。”

很明显，艾薇儿生来就是为了这些疯狂的事。身为排行中间的老二，却“；老想成为注意力焦点”的小孩，她注定要离开加拿大安大略省那个人口只有无钱人的小镇纳帕尼。）。她说，“我记得很小的时候，我站在床上，就像它是舞台一样，我扯着喉咙大声地唱，想像有好几千个人围绕着我。”

如今她的专辑已经完工了，艾薇儿等不及要将它公诸于世。她开玩笑说，和那些摇滚小子们所组成的朋克乐团四处巡回演出，与她的童年也没什么两样。”我一直都是个男人婆，我想我现在还是。我秋冬的时候打曲棍球，夏天的时候打棒球。我喜欢和男生一起玩。”

something about Avril

Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Napanee, Ontario, to parents Judy and John on September 27th, 1984. She was the middle child. She has a brother names Matthew who's 19 years old and a younger sister Michelle, 14. But she

was always the feisty one and spent most of her school years getting into trubble. Even as a teen at Napanee District High School, despite being one of the smallest in her class (5''1'), she was always getting into scrapes. "I got into lots of fights," she admits. "If someone was picking on one of my friends, I'd go bithc them out. I wasn't a fighter, but I don't take any crap. Avril's strong character meant shewasn't always popular with her classmates. "The funny thing is," she smiles "people used to be intimidated by me. I don't know why. It's weird - the group you hang out with and the clothes you wear can scare people. My teachers hated me because I never did my work and never paid attention in class." But itwasn't just Avril's teachers who were angry with her, trouble at school made her parents mad, which meant she was always grounded. "I was rebellious towards my parents, but we're cool now," Avril reveals. "I was always in trouble. I was never allowed to do anything after school so I'd go to my room and write." And that's where Avril's musicwas born, being grounded gave her the time (and inspiration) to write her first album, Let Go.

Avril had been into music since the age of 2, performing in localmusicals, village fairs and, thanks to devout Christian family, at church. Until theage of 12 she'd just been a singer, but she decided she wanted more. So she taught herself to play guitar, andfound a new way of making her parents proud, too. "I taught myself on my dad's guitar," she says. "I started writing lines here and there and they grew into songs. I did it on my own, but my parents supported me," she smiles.

It wasn't long before Avril had her first taste of fame. At the age of 14, singing contest in Canada's capital, Ottawa. She won and appeared on stage as part of her prize (alongside Shania Twain in front of 10.000 people.) It was then that she knew that she could do it, she knew she had something special, so she started to chase her dream. Determinded to be a star, Avril sent a home video of herself singing karaoke to Peter Zizzo, an American songwriter/producer. He was so impressed he invited the ambitious 16 year old on a songwriting trip to New York. Everyone loved her and she was immediately signed to Arista Records, kome of Pink and Usher. Avril's dream was coming true, so she dropped out of school and moved to New York to work on her debut album. But living the dream was scarier than tough- kid Avril had thought. "The city is nuts. It was crazy learning subway on my way to the studio every day," she says, "But I was glad to be doing something productive." After a year working hard Avril had finished her first album, Let Go. "My lyrics are honest and I write about whatever happens to me," she says. "my song Losing Grip means a lot to me, it's about my ex-boyfriend. We weren't meeting on a emotional level and he wasn't giving me what I needed. I can still play the same songs and get mad and get my anger out. It's therapeutic and I hope I can help others in a similar situation." But it wasn't all plain- rocking. Avril'sfeisty self-belief caused