Avril started her carier in singing at the age of 2. She gained recognition in her hometown of Napanee, Ontario, the singing country music in regional competitions after graduating from her church choir at the age of 10. A few years later, her singing talent won her the grand prize in a local radio station contest which is a trip to Ottawa to perform a duet with Shania Twain. Avril began writing her own songs and play guitar at the age of 13. During her high schol years, she sent her videotapes of her stage performances to management companies and record labels in North America. Fortunately, Arista Records was not one of the many labels that passed on Avril, and the labels CEO, Antonio "L.A." Reid, signed Avril before she even recorded her demo.

Accompanied by her elder brother,she moved to Manhattan at the age of 16 to start her career in singing with a major label contract. But she didn't want to be a vocalist in Arista. She wants to be an artist who's very involved in the song writing process. After that, Avril relocated to the West Coast, where she hooked up with Nettwerk Management and met producer/songwriter Cliff Magness. Then, they came up with her first single, "Complicated" from the album "Let Go" which debuted at number eight on the Billboard charts in year 2002 and went platinum within 5 weeks after the album was released.