Cape Town – There was a time when Avril Lavigne was on top of all the charts and the world. She toured every continent, and even put on a show at The Bellville Velodrome in 2005.
But then everything changed when she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and was so ill at one point, she feared death.
In a letter on her website (published last year), she wrote: "I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down. I felt like I was drowning. Like I was going underwater, and I just needed to come up for air. Like I was in a river being pulled in a current,". Eventually, the Canadian singer was able to get the treatment she needed and fight to return to full health.
She elaborated on that battle in the same letter saying: "I was able to turn that fight into music I'm really proud of." Now the woman behind hits like Complicated and With You is back with a new album and a European tour that sees her performing her first concerts in the UK since 2011.
The Canadian rocker will play two dates at London's O2 Academy Brixton and Manchester's O2 Apollo in support of her sixth album Head Above Water – which arrived in February 2019. Her London concert takes place on 1 April then she heads to Manchester only a day later.
About completing the US leg of the same tour and the upcoming dates Avril said in a statement to the press: "I can't believe how quickly it went by. Seeing all your faces each night and feeling your energy was exactly what I needed. I truly missed being up on stage, singing with you and this has brought me so much happiness which is why I'm even more excited to announce that I'll be taking the Head Above Water Tour worldwide next year with dates in Europe, Japan, China and Southeast Asia!"
Compiled by Alex Isaacs. Sources: Channel24, NME.