Editing Avril Lavigne (section)

===1999–2001: Career beginnings===
In 1999, Lavigne won a radio contest to perform with Canadian singer [[Shania Twain]] at the [[Corel Centre]] in [[Ottawa]], before an audience of 20,000 people.{{r|tracy}}{{r|unofficialbiog|canoemcqueen}} Twain and Lavigne sang Twain's song, "[[What Made You Say That]]",{{r|unofficialbiog}} and Lavigne told Twain that she aspired to be "a famous singer".{{r|canoemcqueen}} During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folksinger Stephen Medd. He invited her to contribute vocals on his song, "Touch the Sky", for his 1999 album, ''Quinte Spirit''. She later sang on "Temple of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his follow-up album, ''My Window to You'', in 2000.

In December 1999, Lavigne was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing [[country music|country]] covers at a [[Chapters (bookstore)|Chapters]] bookstore in [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]].{{r|unofficialbiog|canoemcqueen}} Fabri sent out VHS tapes of Lavigne's home performances to several industry prospects, and Lavigne was visited by several executives.{{r|sk8terfaker}} Mark Jowett, co-founder of a Canadian management firm, [[Nettwerk]], received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances recorded in her parents' basement.{{r|patch}} Jowett arranged for Lavigne to work with producer [[Peter Zizzo]] during the summer of 2000 in New York, where she wrote the song "Why". Lavigne was noticed by [[Arista Records]] during a trip to New York.{{r|sk8terfaker}}

In November 2000,{{r|mtvrealdeal}} Ken Krongard, an [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] representative, invited [[L.A. Reid|Antonio "L.A." Reid]], then head of Arista Records, to Zizzo's Manhattan studio to hear Lavigne sing. Her 15-minute audition "so impressed" Reid that he immediately signed her to Arista with a deal worth $1.25&nbsp;million for two albums and an extra $900,000 for a publishing advance.{{r|ewwillman|unofficialbiog}} By this time, Lavigne had found that she fit in naturally with her hometown high school's skater [[clique]], an image that carried through to her first album, but although she enjoyed [[skateboard]]ing, school left her feeling insecure. Having signed a record deal, and with support from her parents, she left school to focus on her music career.{{r|mtvrealdeal}}{{r|canadianpress|mirrorquigley}} Lavigne's band, which were mostly the members of [[Closet Monster (band)|Closet Monster]], was chosen by Nettwerk, as they wanted young performers who were up and coming from the [[Canadian punk rock]] scene who would fit with Lavigne's personality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Lavigne-Avril.html |title=Avril Lavigne Biography – life, family, children, parents, school, mother, young, old, information, born |access-date=January 4, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827104222/http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Lavigne-Avril.html |archive-date=August 27, 2016}} Most inexperienced singers are backed by seasoned musicians, but Nettwerk chose to go with young performers who were up and coming in the Canadian punk-rock scene. As Nettwerk manager Shauna Gold told Shanda Deziel of Maclean's, "[Lavigne] is young, her music's young, we needed a band that would fit well with who she is as a person."</ref>