Wild child Avril Lavigne hit big in summer 2002 with her spiky-fun debut song, "Complicated," shifting pop music into a different direction. Lavigne, who was 17 at the time, didn't seem concerned with the glamour of the TRL-dominated pop world and such confidence allowed her star power to soar. The middle of three children in small-town Napanee, Ontario, Lavigne's rock ambitions were noticeable around age two. By her early teens, she was already writing songs and playing guitar. The church choir, local festivals, and county fairs also allowed Lavigne to get her voice heard, and luckily, Arista Records main man Antonio "L.A." Reid was listening. He offered her a deal, and at 16, Lavigne's musical dreams became reality. With Reid's assistance and a new Manhattan apartment, Lavigne found herself surrounded by prime songwriters and producers, but it wasn't impressive enough for her to continue. She had always relied on her own ideas to create a musical spark, and things weren't going as planned. Lavigne wasn't disillusioned, though. She headed for Los Angeles and Nettwerk grabbed her. Producer/songwriter Clif Magness (Celine Dion, Wilson Phillips, Sheena Easton) tweaked Lavigne's melodic, edgy sound and her debut, Let Go, was the polished product. Singles such as "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi" hit the Top Ten while "I'm with You" and "Losing Grip" did moderately well at radio. Butch Walker of the Marvelous 3, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, and Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) signed on to produce Lavigne's second album, Under My Skin, which appeared in May 2004. The album topped the Billboard charts and produced the number one hit "My Happy Ending." Other singles like "Nobody's Home" and "Fall to Pieces" did respectably well also. Settling down a bit from her punk rock wild child persona, Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, in July 2006. Throwing her 'punk' tag even further out the window, she released the single "Girlfriend," a bouncy teen-pop ditty from her 2007 album The Best Damn Thing.
Lyric: I always needed time on my own I never thought I'd need you there when I cried And the days feel like years when I'm alone And the bed where you lie Is made up on your side
(Lyrics Avril Lavigne When you're gone on http://ezone4u.blogspot.com) When you walk away I count the steps that you take Do you see how much I need you right now?
When you're gone The pieces of my heart are missing you When you're gone The face I came to know is missing too When you're gone The words I need to hear to always get me through the day And make it okay I miss you
I've never felt this way before Everything that I do Reminds me of you And the clothes you left They lie on the floor And they smell just like you I love the things that you do
When you walk away I count the steps that you take Do you see how much I need you right now?
When you're gone The pieces of my heart are missing you When you're gone The face I came to know is missing too When you're gone The words I need to hear to always get me through the day And make it ok I miss you
We were made for each other Out here forever I know we were Yeah, yeah
And all I ever wanted was for you to know Everything I do I give my heart and soul I can hardly breathe I need to feel you here with me Yeah
When you're gone The pieces of my heart are missing you When you're gone The face I came to know is missing too When you're gone The words I need to hear will always get me through the day And make it ok I miss you
