Avril Lavigne was born on September 28, 1984. She is a middle child who “always wanted to be the centre of attention.” She says she started singing at the age of 2 and was well known for her singing talents in her hometown of Napanee (click here to view Napanee
).
Avril would often sing in front of her mirror, using her hairbrush as a microphone and
pretend to be singing in front of a large crowd. Outside the home, she sang in the church choir until she was 10 years old. Then she began to sing in country music regional
competitions. Also, she taught herself how to play the guitar when she was
12.
At the age of 13, Avril won a local radio
contest. The prize was a trip to Ottawa to sing a duet with Shania Twain (click here to view
the official Shania Twain website ). This may have seemed like a big break for Avril, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.
By now, she had started writing her own music and decided to send out videotapes of her performances to
various recording companies. Arista Records decided to sign “the teenage wild child before she had even recorded a demo.” So at the age of 16, she dropped out of high school and went with her older brother to New York.
Things didn’t work out as Avril Lavigne had hoped they would in Manhattan. Antonio “L.A.” Reid, CEO of Arista Records was expecting Lavigne to be a
mere vocalist. However, Lavigne had other plans. She wanted to be an “artist” involved in the songwriting process. She also wanted to be herself. She wasn’t interested in an image makeover.
Make up and high heels were never part of Avril’s personality and she certainly didn’t want them to become part of her image. “I’m
gonna dress what’s me, I’m gonna act what’s me and I’m gonna sing what’s me.”
Finally, Arista allowed Avril to write her own songs and she moved to Los Angeles where “she
hooked up with producer/songwriter Clif Magness” (click here to learn more about Clif Magness and how he helped Avril Lavigne). The two of them instantly connected and they began working on her very successful debut album.
Her album, Let Go, “debuted at number eight on the billboard charts in the summer of 2002 and went platinum within five weeks of its
release.”
Avril’s personality and image has been described as high energy,
self-assured “celebrating her tomboy skater-punk individuality and her love for rock music”.
This clearly comes across in her music. Her first single Complicated, along with several other songs on the album deal with the issue of honesty, being true to yourself and not acting like someone that you’re not.
Avril admits to being a tomboy. “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.” Of course, anyone who has heard of Avril Lavigne knows that she played soccer and that her team
sponsor was the Napanee Home Hardware.
Since, she appeared as guest host on Saturday Night Live (click here to learn more about Saturday Night Live) with the Napanee Home Hardware T-shirt, it became a very popular item and is being sold to
raise funds for the soccer team. As for her music, she says, “I can’t wait to be out there; I want to rock the world! I want people to know that my music is real and honest –it came from my heart. I was being true to myself.”
*If you don’t know the meaning of the
bold underlined
words, click on the words for a definition.
POST READING
A.Comprehension Questions
Answer the questions in complete sentences using the text above.
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Who is Avril Lavigne?
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Where is Avril from?
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How old was Avril Lavigne when she learned how to play the guitar?
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What prize did Avril win when she was 13 years old?
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What record label is Avril signed with?
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Did Avril finish high school?
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Was Avril happy with the way things worked out in Manhattan? Why / why not?
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Who wrote the debut album Let Go with Avril Lavigne?
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What is Aavril’s image and personality described as?
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What does Avril Lavigne want people to know about her music?
B. Fill in the Blanks.
Go to http://www.avril-lavigne.com/indexframes.html and click on music or video and listen to her hit debut song Complicated. Then try to fill in the banks below.
You should listen to the song more than once.
Avril Lavigne: Complicated
Uh huh, life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh, that's the way it is
Cause life's like this
Uh huh, uh huh that's the way it is
A) Fill in the gaps with these words.
Talking - everyone - can't - like - Way - Somebody - driving - Will - watching
Chill out whatcha yelling for?
Lay back it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
you 1____________ see
I like you the 2 ______________ you are
When we're 3 ________________ in your car
and you're 4 __________________ to me one on one but you've become
5 _______________ else round 6 _______________ else
You're 7 ______________ your back like you 8 ________________ relax
You're tryin' to be cool you look 9 _____________ a fool to me
Tell me
B) Fill in the gaps with the following words.
Break - promise - Make - fall - honesty - somebody - crawl
Why you have to go and 10_______________ things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're 11________________ else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
And you 12______________ and you 13_______________ and you 14_______________
and you take what you get and you turn it into 15__________________
and 16 _______________ me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no, no, no
You 17______________ over unannounced
dressed up like you're 18______________ else
19_______________ (were / where) you are and where it's at you see
you're making me
20_______________ out when you strike your pose
21______________ ________ ( anton. put on ) all your preppy clothes
you know you're not fooling 22 ________________
when you've become
5 _______________ else round 6 _______________ else
You're 7 ______________ your back like you 8 ________________ relax
You're tryin' to be cool you look 9 _____________ a fool to me
Tell me
Why you have to go and 10_______________ things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're 11________________ else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you
And you 12______________ and you 13_______________ and you 14_______________
and you take what you get and you turn it into 15__________________
and 16 _______________ me I'm never gonna find you fake it
no, no, no
Chill out whatcha yelling for?
Lay back, it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
You 1_______________ see
5 _______________ else round 6 _______________ else
You're 7 ______________ your back like you 8 ________________ relax
You're tryin' to be cool you look 9 _____________ a fool to me
Tell me
Why you have to go and ….
Click on http://www.avrilfans.com/ to view complete lyrics.
(Exercise from http://esl-lounge.com/songs/songcomplicated.html )
*If you wish to, Skater Boy (sk8er boi) is also available as a fill in the blanks at http://esl-lounge.com/songs/songskaterboy.html .
Exercise 4
Now that you have listened to Avril’s music and read her biography, do you think her music is a good representation of who Avril Lavigne is?
Does it truly reflect her personality? Write your opinion below. (I don’t think this could be done on the internet. Could It?)
Exercise 5
As a more challenging activity, read the article on http://www.recroommagazine.com/articles/avril.htm and compare with the above biography.
Do you think the opinion of the person who does not like Avril Lavigne could have some truth in it? Or, is this person just trying to make up reasons for people not to like Avril Lavigne?
WHAT’S AVRIL DOING NOW?
To read an article talking about Avril Lavigne’s follow up CD due to be released soon, click http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1480231/11062003/lavigne_avril.jhtml
