i just found this sorry i know its long.....
TEEN POP ROCKER AVRIL LAVIGNE RISING TO TOP OF CHARTS WITH ANTI POSEUR SONGS
By Angela Pacienza
Source: The Canadian Press, Jun 3, 2002
TORONTO (CP) - The reality of the music business is that nearly every hot new star has some sort of musical past. And 17-year-old pop-rocker Avril Lavigne is no different.
As a little girl, Lavigne made a cassette of herself singing along with superstar Shania Twain and entered it in a contest hosted by a country radio station in her small Ontario town.
A few weeks later she walked on to the stage of a crowded stadium in Ottawa, stuck her chin out and belted out What Made You Say That in a duet with Twain.
'It was the biggest rush of my life,' Lavigne says over the phone from Norfolk, Va., where she was recently promoting her debut album, Let Go. 'I walked out on stage and I was the happiest person in the world.'
Fast forward three years and the singer, who also plays guitar, has virtually become an overnight success. With a major U.S. label backing the album and a debut single, Complicated, that stands as the most frequently heard song on Canadian radio, Lavigne is poised to be the country's next major musical ex major musical export.
'All the stuff that's happened, I've always wanted,' says the self-assured teen who sings with the same angst as Alanis Morissette but has the spunky, you-don't-own-me attitude of Pink. 'I really believe in myself . . . it's kind of what I expected.'
The 'stuff' she's referring to is the showering of attention from radio and television stations including MuchMusic and MTV and a slew of teen magazines like Seventeen and YM. This week the singer will make her late night debut with Jay Leno. She also received wide exposure after one of her songs played during the season finale of Felicity.
On the surface Lavigne is the typical teenager _ her vocabulary is littered with the words 'like,' 'stuff,' and 'cool.' She worries about her hair, fusses about her eyeliner, likes to chase cute boys and loves her 'doggie' Sam, who has to stay at her parents' house in Napanee, Ont., while she criss-crosses Canada and the United States promoting her work.
But look a little deeper and the feisty guitarist, who's developing a strong teen fan base with her skater punk image, is self-confident and sassy. Her songs are up-front testimonials about teen life and praise individuality over poseur culture.
Lavigne, who used to sing country music at fairs and talent contests, got her break less than two years ago duars ago during a visit to New York City with her Ontario manager. A representative from Arista Records heard the teenager sing and put her in front of boss Antonio (L.A.) Reid, who has helped steer the careers of Pink, Toni Braxton, TLC and Usher.
Shortly after her 16th birthday, Lavigne was offered a contract. She dropped out of school (she was in Grade 11) and moved to New York with her older brother Matt keeping watch.
'I wasn't going to turn it down,' she said about leaving school unfinished. 'It's been my dream all my life.'
That dream includes not being passed off as another pop princess.
'I'm not like them. I'm just being myself, being real.'
And while Lavigne, who taught herself to play guitar at age 12, had no plans to typecast herself a 'skater chick,' she'd rather that than don a crop-top and mini-skirt to sell records.
'I won't change anything because I think the most important thing is being yourself and that's what I'm going to continue to do.'
Lavigne's drive is what theatre director Tim Picotte remembers most about the singer.
'She knew back then what she was going to do and she just kept plugging away at it,' said Picotte, who directed Lavigne when she was 11 in two musical productions for Lennox Community Theatre in Napanee, Ont.
'Avril has >
'Avril has always had the sparkle, she's got showmanship . . . she's always had that since I've know her.'
© 2002 The Canadian Press
