It has been announced that Canadian star Avril Lavigne will be performing at the Special Olympics World Games in Dubai. Luis Fonsi, DJ Paul Oakenfold, Tamer Hosny, Assala Nasri, and Hussain Al Jasmi will also perform, according to Gulf News .
The event will take place on March 14 at the Zayed Sports City Stadium.
“I have been working with the Special Olympics for a number of years and this will truly be an incredible experience performing at the largest and most unified Special Olympics World Games ever held,” said Lavigne with excitement.
“These athletes are so inspiring and they are a huge part of what we believe in and support through The Avril Lavigne Foundation. I want to shine a light on their courage and determination and I am honored to have been invited to help support them.”
The event will promote 7,500 athletes from across 190 nations. Throughout the Athlete Parade, they will be side-by-side with Special Olympics Global Ambassadors. This will include legendary athletes Didier Drogba, Michelle Kwan, Dikembe Mutombo, Vladimir Grbic, and Apolo Ohno.
The World Games will take place from March 14 to 21.
Last year, Avril released her first single since 2015, titled “Head Above Water,” which she named her album after. She followed this up with “Tell Me It’s Over” and “Dumb Blonde,” a collaboration with Nicki Minaj. The album went top 10 in the U.K., being her fifth album to do so. It also went top 3 in Germany and top 5 in her home country of Canada.
Avril’s career skyrocketed in 2002 when she released her debut album Let Go , which catapulted her worldwide and sold over 16 million copies. The album contained the hit singles “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” and “I’m With You.” Her follow up album, Under My Skin , matched this success — selling over 10 million records with a little help from singles “Don’t Tell Me” and “My Happy Ending.”
It was three more years until Lavigne released her third studio album, The Best Damn Thing . She rebranded her image with a more feminine look, which was a departure from her skater-tomboy image. The album included the massive hit single “Girlfriend,” which was the first video on YouTube to reach 100 million views. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, came out in 2011, and her fifth, self-titled record came out two years later, in 2013.
Despite having kept a relatively low profile in recent years, Lavigne still has a large online following. Her Instagram account has 6.7 million followers. Her posts are met with hundreds of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. Her Twitter account has 21.7 million followers, and she has posted over 3,900 tweets.