Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne will soon celebrate her 10th anniversary in the music business. Avril, now 27, burst onto the scene back in 2002 with an album, Let Go, that was certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Speaking to MTV News about her decade in music, Avril explained, "Yeah, I've been doing this for a really long time, 10 years, professionally in music.And I would always look back and just say always be true to yourself, do what you want and follow your gut. And that was what I did". Maintaining her pop/soft rock sound, the singer found a winning formula and it also began when she shifted 18 million copies of her debut album. Her breakthrough single Complicated, peaked at No.1 in various countries around the world, as did the album. Discussing her integrity as an artist and songwriter, the Ontario native continued, "As a creative person you have to be in tune with that and really have a sense of who you are and what you're going for because other people come in and tell you [that] you should do this and that so I always stayed focused on what it is that I wanted to do". With more than 30 million albums sold worldwide, Lavigne is one of the top selling artists currently releasing music in the U.S. and her fourth studio album 'Goodbye Lullaby' entered the Top 10 earlier this year.
Most recently, Avril performed a duet with X Factor finalist Chris Rene on Thursday's season finale.