Things you need to know about Avril Lavigne Whibley, the pride of Napanee.

Lavigne is Canada's pop-punkstress of girly garb and radio-refined rock tunes.

She has just launched a tour in support of her third album, The Best Damn Thing, and she's coming to play Calgary tonight.

Love her or hate her, Lavigne is a force to be reckoned with.

Since her debut on the Canadian music scene in 2002, Lavigne abandoned the Great White North for the sunny shores of Los Angeles a few years ago and is now considered to be one of the most powerful Canadians in Hollywood.

The 23-year-old has had her ups and downs in the media -- good and bad reviews from critics around the world, including celebrity bloggers such as Perez Hilton, who consistently makes fun of her on his tongue-in-cheek website.

Here's a few newsworthy, must-know pieces of information about the songstress:

The Skinny

NAME: Avril Ramona Lavigne Whibley

HOMETOWN: Born in Belleville, raised in Napanee, Ont.

AGE: 23

PROFESSION: Singer, fashionista, and celebrity

Hair colour: Blond and pink.

HITS: Complicated, Sk8er Boi, My Happy Ending and Girlfriend

SALES: More than 30 million albums sold

Maxim magazine

A scantly clad Lavigne can be seen donning a frilly pink dress and her underwear on the March cover of the men's mag. She may have started her career based on a teenage pop-punk persona, but the skull and crossbones-wielding teeny-bopper is obviously eager to prove she is all grown up and ready to appear in her sultry come-hither underoos for millions of men (and teenage admirers) to take in.

Clothing Line

Her appearance on the cover of Maxim doesn't mean Lavigne is planning on turning her back on her young female fans -- she's just launched a clothing line "Abbey Dawn" for junior departments at Kohl's stores. Really, that's all pre-teens need, combat boots and pink camouflage pants. Let's just pray she isn't trying to market loosely fitting ties as her own creation.

Love life

In 2006, Lavigne tied the knot with fellow Canadian musician Deryck Whibley -- they married in a Catholic ceremony in California. Whibley is the sour-faced (rarely smiles), foul-mouthed (cusses a lot) lead singer of pop-punk band Sum 41. Avril wears the army-pants in the relationship -- she makes a considerable amount more (a reported $12 million a year), and is considerably more famous than Deryck, who has been nicknamed Mr. Lavigne.

Preggers?

No way, says Lavigne, who dispelled rumours she's knocked up. She and hubby (Mr. Lavigne), were spotted shopping for baby clothes but it was all for Ashton Kutcher's new show Pop Fiction.

Let's hope she does not get preggers soon as she's already got Deryck to take care of, she doesn't need another foul-mouthed toddler running around and messing up the mansion.

Legal Woes

The "songwriter" has been accused several times of ripping off other songwriters and claiming the notes as her own. Her plagiarism problems first surfaced last year when she was sued because her hit single Girlfriend bares a resemblance to a 1979 song called I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend. Lavigne says not so, she has never even heard the old tune.

Cat Fight

It's Chantal Kreviazuk in the left corner and Lavigne in the right, the two Canadian songbirds used to be good buddies until Kreviazuk accused Lavigne of stealing from her.

Kreviazuk told a reporter that Lavigne took one of her songs (Contagious) and didn't credit her as a writer. Lavigne waved her metaphorical middle finger back at Kreviazuk by posting an open letter on her website stating that she would consider legal action against the Winnipeg chanteuse. Kreviazuk made a public apology, but the damage is done.

Talent?

Hmmm ... well, maybe.

While Lavigne has come under fire for plagiarism by some, others in the industry have applauded her talent as a songwriter, including Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, who performed a duet version of his song Iris with Lavigne at the 2004 Fashion Rocks concert in New York.

In 1998, a young Lavigne won a competition to sing with country megastar Shania Twain on her first tour.

The performance opened doors for Lavigne, who was signed to Arista Records at 16 years of age.

Believe she is a talent to be recognized or not -- Avril Lavigne is laughing all the way to bank.