Avril Lavigne Religion

What religion is Avril Lavigne?

Avril Lavigne is a Canadian-French singer, songwriter, and fashion designer who was raised in a devout Roman Catholic and evangelical Christian household. She sang in her local church choir from a young age.

Avril Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records in 2000. Her debut album, Let Go (2002), sold more than 16 million copies worldwide and produced the hit singles “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” and “I’m with You.” Let Go remains the best-selling album by a Canadian artist released in the 21st century. Her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide. The Best Damn Thing (2007) reached No. 1 in several countries and included “Girlfriend,” her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single. Her subsequent albums, Goodbye Lullaby (2011), Avril Lavigne (2013), Head Above Water (2019), and Love Sux (2022), produced the singles “What the Hell,” “Here’s to Never Growing Up,” “Head Above Water,” and “Bite Me.”

Avril Lavigne has sold more than 50 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. Her career honors include 10 Juno Awards, a Guinness World Record for being the youngest female solo artist to top the UK chart, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Additionally, she was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame and has earned eight Grammy Award nominations.

Early life

Avril Ramona Lavigne was born on September 27, 1984, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, to Jean-Claude Joseph Lavigne, a French-Canadian, and Judith-Rosanne “Judy” Lavigne, whose ancestry includes English, Scottish, and German roots. The family relocated to Greater Napanee, Ontario, when she was five. Lavigne began singing publicly at age two in church and local events, initially performing Christian tunes and country songs under her parents’ strict Christian faith. After her father converted the family basement into a recording space, and in 1999, she won a radio contest to perform a duet with Shania Twain before 20,000 people at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. That same year, her first manager, Cliff Fabri, discovered her performing at a bookstore in Kingston, Ontario. She then quit high school in the eleventh grade after Arista Records CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid signed her to a two-album contract worth approximately $1.25 million and relocated to Manhattan with her brother before moving to Los Angeles to work on her debut album.

In elementary school Lavigne was diagnosed with ADHD and sometimes was expelled for misbehavior; she also played hockey on boys’ teams from a young age.

Global breakthrough

Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, was released in June 2002 and became the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist, selling over 16 million copies worldwide. It featured hits such as “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” “I’m with You,” and “Losing Grip,” reaching number one and earning her the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 2003. The album also earned eight Grammy nominations and made her the youngest female artist to top the UK Albums Chart at age 17. Her second album, Under My Skin, followed in May 2004 and debuted at number one in multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Japan, selling 10 million copies worldwide. Its singles included “Don’t Tell Me,” “My Happy Ending,” and “Nobody’s Home.” Lavigne then released her third album, The Best Damn Thing, in April 2007 and reached number one in seven countries. Its lead single “Girlfriend” became her first to top the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

Subsequently, Lavigne was sued by two songwriters, claiming “Girlfriend” was plagiarized from their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” but the case was settled out of court. She then went on to release her fourth album, Goodbye Lullaby, in March 2011, and then her fifth self-titled album followed in November 2013, featuring the top-20 single “Here’s to Never Growing Up” and a duet with then-husband Chad Kroeger on “Let Me Go.” The following year, the single “Hello Kitty” was released, though the song sparked racism controversy over its music video, which Lavigne denied.

Global chart success

Across her first five studio albums, Lavigne accumulated over 40 million records sold worldwide, ten Juno Awards, and eight Grammy nominations. She held the record as the best-selling female artist in Canada for over a decade. Let Go remains the best-selling album of the 21st century by any Canadian artist, regardless of gender. She has sold out arenas across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia across five world tours throughout her career.

In 2006, she provided a voice role in the animated film Over the Hedge and appeared in Fast Food Nation. Lavigne wrote the song “Alice” for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 2010 and released the charity single “Fly” for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games, at which she performed at the opening ceremony in Los Angeles. In July 2008, she launched her own clothing line, Abbey Dawn, distributed exclusively in the United States through Kohl’s, and has released several successful fragrance lines, including Forbidden Rose and Black Star.

Health battles

Lavigne contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite in spring 2014. Doctors initially dismissed her symptoms as dehydration and exhaustion. She was bedridden for five months before receiving a proper diagnosis, telling People magazine in April 2015, “I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk, and I couldn’t move. I thought I was dying.” Her mother moved into her Ontario home during her recovery. Treatment involved rest and antibiotics. She later told Billboard in 2018 she spent close to two years largely confined to bed across the worst periods of the illness and that multiple doctors dismissed her condition before she found a Lyme specialist on her own.

Musical return

Lavigne’s return to music came with her sixth studio album, Head Above Water, released in February 2019 through BMG. The album was written during her Lyme disease recovery, with its title track written as a direct response to her illness. It peaked in the top ten in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Italy and debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200. In 2021, she appeared on Mod Sun’s single “Flames” and on Willow Smith’s “Grow” before signing with Travis Barker’s DTA Records imprint under Elektra Music Group. She then released “Bite Me” as her first single under the new deal in late 2021.

Love Sux era

Lavigne’s seventh studio album, Love Sux, was released in February 2022 through DTA Records and Elektra Music Group, with Travis Barker as executive producer. The album debuted at number three in Canada and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. It featured collaborations with Blackbear on “Love It When You Hate Me” and Yungblud on “I’m a Mess,” the latter released as the lead single of the deluxe edition in November 2022. She performed a mashup of Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene” and her own “Sk8er Boi” at the 2023 CMA Fest in Nashville and released the collaborative single “Fake as Hell” with All Time Low in September 2023.

Greatest hits tour

In May 2024, Lavigne announced the release of her first Greatest Hits compilation, released on June 21, 2024. She launched the Greatest Hits Tour to coincide with the release, performing across North America and Europe throughout 2024, with further North American dates in 2025. That same month, she released “Bulletproof” with country artist Nate Smith, followed by “Can You Die From a Broken Heart” on Smith’s sophomore album California Gold. On May 9, 2025, she released “Young & Dumb” featuring Simple Plan, the first band she had toured alongside on her debut Try to Shut Me Up Tour in 2002. She then performed “77,” a collaboration with Billy Idol, on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 28, 2025.

Awards and honors

Lavigne has received eight Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, with early recognition coming from her debut album and singles like “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi.” She has won multiple Juno Awards, Canada’s primary music honors, and other international awards, including MTV Music Awards and MTV European Music Awards. In June 2024, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada (CM) by the Canadian Governor General for her services to music. Before this, in August 2022, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6212 Hollywood Boulevard, with Colson Baker as the guest speaker. Her debut album Let Go alone secured her status as one of the most successful Canadian artists of the 21st century in terms of sales and international reach.

Personal life

Lavigne has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley. They married in July 2006 in California and divorced in November 2010. Her second marriage was to Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. They married in July 2013 and divorced in September 2015. She then began a relationship with singer Mod Sun, to whom she became engaged. In February 2023, the engagement was called off. Shortly after, she was linked to rapper Tyga in a brief public relationship that ended by mid-2023. As of the time of writing this, Lavigne does not have children of her own, but she is a stepmother to Kroeger’s daughter, Violet.

Away from music, Lavigne established the Avril Lavigne Foundation in 2010 to support young people with disabilities and serious illnesses and has been a public advocate for Lyme disease awareness since her diagnosis in 2014.