Singer-songwriter Shania Twain found success by combining country and pop music. She became an international star following the release of her 1997 album ‘Come On Over.’

Who Is Shania Twain?

A music lover early on, Shania Twain started writing songs at age 10. Twain enjoyed success with her second album, The Woman in Me (1995), before delivering the best-selling country album in history with Come on Over (1997). Following a lengthy hiatus due to personal and health problems, Twain returned to the spotlight with a memoir in 2011 and embarked on a Las Vegas residency in 2012. She released her first album of original material in 15 years with 2017's Now, and made her feature film debut in 2019 with Trading Paint.

Early Life

On August 28, 1965, Eilleen Regina Edwards — who would later change her name to Shania Twain — was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Her parents divorced when she was young, but her mother, Sharon, soon remarried, to a man named Jerry Twain, a member of the Ojibwa tribe. Jerry adopted Sharon’s three daughters, and the 4-year-old Eilleen became Eilleen Twain.

Twain grew up in the small town of Timmins, located in Ontario. There, her family often struggled to make ends meet, and Twain sometimes had nothing more than a “poor man’s sandwich” (bread spread with mayonnaise or mustard) for lunch at school. Jerry also had a violent streak, and Twain and her siblings witnessed him attack Sharon on more than one occasion.

But music was a bright spot in Twain’s childhood. She was singing by the age of 3, playing the guitar at 8 and penning her own songs at 10. Sharon embraced her daughter’s talent, making sacrifices the family could ill afford in order to get Twain to lessons and gigs. With her mother’s encouragement, Twain grew up singing in clubs and at community events, with occasional forays into television and radio.

Overcoming a Family Tragedy

At 18, Twain decided to try and make a go of her singing career in Toronto. She found work, but didn’t make enough to support herself without taking odd jobs, which included a stint at McDonald’s.

In 1987, however, Twain’s life was upended when her parents died in a car crash. In order to support her three younger siblings (in addition to Twain’s younger sister, Sharon and Jerry had had a son together and had also adopted Jerry’s nephew), Twain returned to Timmins and took a job singing as part of a Las Vegas–style show at the nearby Deerhurst resort in Huntsville, Ontario.

However, Twain hadn’t given up on making her own music, and she continued to write songs in her free time. Her demo made it to Nashville, and she was subsequently signed to Polygram Records (which became Mercury Nashville).

Early Career in Nashville

Her new label may have liked Twain’s music, but they didn’t care for the name Eilleen Twain. As Twain wanted to keep her last name to honor her adoptive father, she opted to change her first name instead, to Shania, an Ojibwe word that means “I’m on my way.”

Debut Album: 'Shania Twain'

Encouraged to use songs written by others, Twain lamented her lack of artistic control in Nashville. Still, her first album, titled Shania Twain, was released in 1993. The album was not a big success (though Twain's video for “What Made You Say That,” which featured her wearing a crop top, got plenty of attention), but it did reach one important fan: Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who’d produced albums for groups such as AC/DC, the Cars and Def Leppard. After getting in touch with Twain, Lange set to work with her on her next album.

Albums and Songs The Woman in Me'

Twain and Lange co-wrote 10 of the 12 tracks for Twain’s next album, The Woman in Me (1995). Twain loved the album, but given Lange’s rock background and the record’s forays into pop as well as country music, she worried about how people would react.

She needn’t have been concerned. The first single, “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” reached No. 11 on the country charts. The follow-up single, the rock-infused “Any Man of Mine,” soared to No. 1 on the country charts and was also a Top 40 pop hit. Twain received four Grammy nominations the following year, and won Best Country Album. A critical and commercial success, The Woman in Me would reach eventually reach more than 12 million in U.S. sales.

Come On Over'

Twain’s subsequent album, Come On Over (1997), another co-production with Lange, further fused country and pop. It also had more chart-topping songs, including pumped-up anthems such as “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much," as well as romantic ballads such as “You're Still the One” and “From This Moment On.”

In 1999, “You’re Still The One” earned Twain two Grammys, one for Best Country Song and another for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The song also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country charts. The next year, Twain took home another two Grammys when “Come On Over” was named Best Country Song and “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” won for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

MINI BIO :

Shania Twain was born as Eilleen Regina Edwards in 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, one of three daughters of Clarence and Sharon (Morrison) Edwards (sister Jill is two years older and Carrie-Ann three years younger). When she was age six, her mother remarried Jerry Twain, a full-blooded Ojibwa native from Timmins, Ontario, who adopted her as his own. She started out singing in bars as a child after hours, and, at thirteen, appeared on The Tommy Hunter Show (1965). When she was 22, her parents were killed in an accident, and she became the legal guardian of her half-brothers (Mark, then 13, and Darryl, then 14) and sister, putting her musical career on hold to raise her family. In 1991 she changed her name to Shania (meaning "I'm on my way" in Ojibwa, it was the name of a co-worker), and signed a contract with Mercury Nashville that same year. Her first album went by without notice, but her second album (produced with Mutt Lange, who she wed in 1993) broke world records with its sales!

TRIVIA : 

• On November 1, 1987, her mother and stepfather were killed in a car crash, and she became the legal guardian of her younger siblings, putting her musical career on hold to raise her family.
• The album, tour and merchandising for the album "Come On Over" (1999) made over $40,000,000 in Australia alone, where it still remains one of the longest charting albums in Australia.
• Her music video Shania Twain: Man! I Feel Like a Woman (1999) paid tribute to Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love (1986) reversing the gender roles, with Twain fronting a band of five male models playing guitars, drums and a keyboard (as Palmer fronted a band of five female models playing guitars, drums and a keyboard).
• She has English, Irish, French-Canadian and Northern Irish ancestry. She was raised in the Ojibway Indian culture by her stepfather, a full-blooded Ojibway Native.
• Shy as a child, was a tomboy and hated performing. Started writing songs when she was eight years old.
• In 2004, Twain retired from performing and retreated to her home in Switzerland.
• Has sold 19 million copies of her album "Come On Over" (1999) domestically.
• As a child, she often was sent to school without lunch because her parents couldn't afford groceries.
• In 2003, she contracted Lyme disease which affected her voice. In order to regain her voice from the effects of dysphonia, which was caused by disease, she underwent multiple invasive surgeries.
• Her German Shepherd dog Tim is named after her hometown of Timmins, Ontario, Canada.
• Considers Gladys Knight one of her biggest influences.
• Has scored seven No. 1 hits on Billboard magazine's country singles chart. Her biggest hit is the country-pop smash "You're Still the One" (1998, No. 1 country, No. 2 Hot 100); the song won Grammy Awards for Best Country song and Best Female Country Performance.
• Her other country No. 1 hits: "Any Man of Mine" (1995); "(If You're Not in it for Love) I'm Outta Here!", "You Win My Love" and "No One Needs to Know" (1996); and "Honey I'm Home" (1998). Other big hits include "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" and "The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You)" (1995); "Don't Be Stupid", "From This Moment On" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" (all 1998, the second a duet with country singer Bryan White); and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman", "You've Got a Way" and "Come On Over" (all 1999).
• She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6270 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 2, 2011.
• Her biggest country hit, "Love Gets Me Every Time" (1997), became the first country No. 1 released by a female country artist to spend five weeks atop Billboard's country chart since Dolly Parton's hit "Here You Come Again" (1977).
• Her album "Up!" (2002) sold two million copies in the United States during its first month of release.
• Her nephew, whose last name is also Twain, got his big break in entertainment when featured on Canada's Much Music cable station in 2004.
• Listed in People Weekly magazine's "Most Intriguing People" list (1995).
• She was awarded the OC (Officer of the Order of Canada) by the Governor General of Canada on November 18, 2005 for her services to music.
• Has a son, Eja (pronounced "Asia") D'Angelo Lange (b. August 12, 2001), with her ex-husband Mutt Lange.
• She owns a cottage near the town of Huntsville in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada.
• She was awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario on June 25, 2003.
• Won three 2003 Juno Awards: Juno Fan Choice Award, Artist of the Year and Country Recording of the Year.
• Named #39 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2005 list.
• Ranked #15 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.
• Named #30 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.
• (April 6, 2003) Hosted the 2003 Juno Awards (Canadian Grammy Awards) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
• Her name is correctly pronounced 'Shu-nye-ah'.
• Named #33 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.
• She returned to music in 2011, with her "Shania: Still the One" residency in Las Vegas from 2012-2014; "Rock This Country" tour in 2015; "Now" tour in 2018; and "Let's Go!" residency in Las Vegas since 2019. She released her fifth studio album, "Now," in 2017.

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