Evan David Taubenfeld (born June 27, 1983) is an American singer and musician, best known for being Avril Lavigne's lead guitarist, music director and frequent collaborator. Taubenfeld's debut album, Welcome to the Blacklist Club, was released in 2010. Early life Taubenfeld was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Mark and Ami Taubenfeld, who ran a catering business. He has two siblings, a younger brother named Drew (b. 1984), who is a multi-instrumentalist and musical director for Kacey Musgraves, and a younger sister, Annie (b. 1990). Taubenfeld graduated from McDonogh School in 2001. Taubenfeld had an early interest in music and took an interest at the piano at home as a toddler. He received a small drum kit as a young child, continuing on a full-size drum kit several years later. While in seventh grade, he joined the band The Suburbanites on drums. At the age of 15, he taught himself guitar by learning to play "Come As You Are" by Nirvana. After 3 years, he founded Spinfire with his friend Matt Halpern in which he sang and played guitar. They performed at festivals and shows in the Baltimore area, and wrote and produced songs such as "Feeling Beautiful", "Lettin' It Be", and "Waiting". Career With Avril Lavigne Taubenfeld considered studying at Berklee College of Music, but chose to market his band with major labels instead. When his band members chose to go to college instead, Taubenfeld recorded a demo of his own music, among others sending it to Arista Records A&R vice president Josh Sarubin, who he made his acquaintance with during his time in Spinfire. Taubenfeld received a phone call from Sarubin, who invited him to audition in New York City for the band of a new talent he just signed, a young Canadian named Avril Lavigne. He joined this band in 2002 when her debut album Let Go had already been recorded. For Lavigne's sophomore album Under My Skin, Taubenfeld contributed to the music and was credited for the music on "Don't Tell Me", "Take Me Away", and "Freak Out", the latter of which he shared the credits with drummer Matt Brann. In addition to being her lead guitarist, he took up music directing and became a close friend of Lavigne. He left the band in September 2004, when he was signed as a staff writer with EMI Music Publishing, after which he got his own recording contract with