Shania Twain

Shania Twain, OC (/ʃəˈnaɪ.ə/) (born Eileen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965), is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the "Queen of Country Pop". Raised in Timmins, Ontario, Twain pursued singing and songwriting from a young age before signing with Mercury Nashville Records in the early 1990s. Her self-titled debut studio album saw little commercial success upon release in 1993. After collaborating with producer and later husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Twain rose to fame with her second studio album, The Woman in Me (1995), which brought her widespread success. It sold 20 million copies worldwide, spawned widely successful singles such as "Any Man of Mine", and earned her a Grammy Award. Her third studio album, Come On Over (1997), became the best-selling studio album of all time by a female act in any genre and the best-selling country album, selling nearly 40 million copies worldwide. Come On Over produced twelve singles, including "You're Still the One", "From This Moment On" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", and earned Twain four Grammy Awards. Her fourth studio album, Up! (2002), was also certified Diamond in the United States. In 2004, Twain entered a hiatus, revealing years later that diagnoses with Lyme disease and dysphonia led to a severely weakened singing voice. In 2011, she chronicled her vocal rehabilitation on the OWN miniseries Why Not? with Shania Twain, released her first single in six years, "Today Is Your Day", and published an autobiography, From This Moment On. Twain returned to performing the following year with an exclusive concert residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Shania: Still the One, which ran until 2014. In 2015, she launched the North American Rock This Country Tour, which was billed as her farewell tour. Twain released her first studio album in 15 years in 2017, Now, and embarked on the Shania Now Tour in 2018. Twain has received five Grammy Awards, 27 BMI Songwriter Awards, stars on Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. According to the RIAA she is the only female artist in history to have three (consecutive) albums certified Diamond by the RIAA. and is the sixth best-selling female artist in the United States. Altogether, Twain is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era. Early life Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, on August 28, 1965, to Sharon (née Morrison) and Clarence Edwards. She has two sisters, Jill and Carrie Ann. Her parents divorced when she was two and her mother moved to Timmins, Ontario, with her daughters. Sharon married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa from the nearby Mattagami First Nation, and they had son Mark together. Jerry adopted the girls and legally changed their surname to Twain. When Mark was a toddler, Jerry and Sharon adopted Jerry's baby nephew Darryl when his mother died. Because of Twain's connection to Jerry, the media have incorrectly reported that she is of Ojibwe descent. When questioned as to why she chose not to publicly acknowledge Edwards as her father for years, Twain stated: My father (Jerry) went out of his way to raise three daughters that weren't even his. For me to acknowledge another man as my father, a man who was never there for me as a father, who wasn't the one who struggled everyday to put food on our table, would have hurt him terribly. We were a family. Step-father, step-brothers, we never used that vocabulary in our home. To have referred to him as my step-father would have been the worst slap across the face to him. Shania currently holds a status card and is on the official band membership list of the Temagami First Nation. In 1991, the singer was offered a recording contract in Nashville and applied for immigration status into the United States. At that time, by virtue of her stepfather Jerry Twain being a full-blooded Ojibwe and the rights guaranteed to Native Americans in the Jay Treaty (1795), Shania became legally registered as having 50 percent Native American blood. Twain has said that as a child she was told by her mother that her biological father was part Cree, a claim his family denies. Her confirmed ancestry includes English, French, and Irish. Through a maternal great-grandmother, she is a descendant of French carpenter Zacharie Cloutier. Her Irish maternal grandmother, Eileen Pearce, emigrated from Newbridge, County Kildare. Twain has said she had a difficult childhood. Her parents earned little money and food was often scarce in their household. Twain did not confide her situation to school authorities, fearing they might break up the family. Her mother and stepfather's marriage was stormy at times, and from a young age she witnessed violence between them. Her mother also struggled with bouts of depression. In mid-1979, while Jerry was at work, at Twain's insistence, her mother drove the rest of the family 420 miles (680 km) south to a Toronto homeless shelter for assistance. Sharon returned to Jerry with the children in 1981. In Timmins, Twain started singing at bars at the age of eight to try to help pay her family's bills; she often earned $20 between midnight and 1 a.m. performing for remaining customers after the bar had finished serving alcohol. Although she expressed a dislike for singing in those bars, Twain believes that this was her own kind of performing-arts school on the road. She has said of the ordeal, "My deepest passion was music and it helped. There were moments when I thought, 'I hate this.' I hated going into bars and being with drunks. But I loved the music and so I survived." Twain wrote her first songs at the age of 10, "Is Love a Rose" and "Just Like the Storybooks," which were rhyming fairy tales. She states that the art of creating, of actually writing songs, "was very different from performing them and became progressively important". At age 13, Twain was invited to perform on the CBC's Tommy Hunter Show. While attending Timmins High and Vocational School, she was also the singer for a local band called Longshot, which covered Top 40 music. In the early 1980s, Twain spent some time working with her father's reforestation business in northern Ontario, which employed some 75 Ojibwe and Cree workers. Although the work was demanding and the pay low, Twain said, "I loved the feeling of being stranded. I'm not afraid of being in my own environment, being physical, working hard. I was very strong, I walked miles and miles every day and carried heavy loads of trees. You can't shampoo, use soap or deodorant, or makeup, nothing with any scent; you have to bathe and rinse your clothes in the lake. It was a very rugged existence, but I was very creative and I would sit alone in the forest with my dog and a guitar and would just write songs." Career 1983–1992: Beginnings Twain graduated from Timmins High in June 1983 eager to expand her musical horizons. After Longshot's demise, Twain was approached by a cover band led by Diane Chase called "Flirt" and toured all over Ontario with them. She also took singing lessons from Toronto-based coach Ian Garrett, often cleaning his house as payment. In the autumn of 1984, Twain's talents were noticed by Toronto DJ Stan Campbell who wrote about her in a Country Music News article: "Eilleen possesses a powerful voice with an impressive range. She has the necessary drive, ambition and positive attitude to achieve her goals". Campbell happened to be making an album by Canadian musician (and present-day CKTB radio personality) Tim Denis at the time and Twain was featured on the backing vocals of the song Heavy on the Sunshine. Campbell later took Twain to Nashville to record some demos, which she found particularly difficult to finance. She became acquainted with regional country singer Mary Bailey who had had some country chart success in 1976. Bailey had seen Twain perform in Sudbury, Ontario, saying "I saw this little girl up on stage with a guitar and it absolutely blew me away. She performed Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Her voice reminded me of Tanya Tucker, it had strength and character, a lot of feeling. She's a star, she deserves an opportunity." Bailey later said "She sang a few songs that she had written, and I thought to myself, this kid is like nineteen years old, where does she get this? This is from a person who's lived sixty years". Bailey acquired the contract from Stan Campbell and Twain moved into Bailey's home on Kenogami Lake where she practised her music every day for hours. In the fall of 1985, Bailey took Twain down to Nashville to stay with a friend, record producer Tony Migliore, who at the time was producing an album for fellow Canadian singer Kelita Haverland and Twain was featured on the backing vocals to the song Too Hot to Handle. She also recorded "demo" songs with Cyril Rawson but those efforts were unsuccessful, partly due to Twain's wish to become a rock singer, not a country artist. After five months she returned to Canada and moved in with Bailey in a flat in downtown Kirkland Lake, not far from Kenogami. There she met rock keyboardist Eric Lambier, drummer Randy Yurko, guitarist Tom Gustar and formed a new band, moving three months later to Bowmanville, near Toronto. In late summer 1986, Mary Bailey arranged for Twain to meet John Kim Bell, a half Mohawk, half American conductor who had close contacts with the directors of the Canadian Country Music Association. Bell recognized Twain's ability as well as her looks and the two began secretly dating. In the fall of 1986 Twain continued to express her desire to be a pop or rock singer rather than country, which led to her falling out with Mary Bailey for two years. Twain's first break finally came on February 8, 1987, when Bell staged a fundraiser for the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, now Indspire, at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto where Twain performed with Broadway star Bernadette Peters, guitarist Don Ross, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Her performance received little acclaim, but it convinced Bell, who hated pop music, that Twain should stay well away from it and concentrate on country music. On November 1, 1987, Twain's mother and stepfather died in a car accident approximately 50 kilometres north of Wawa, Ontario. She moved back to Timmins to take care of her younger siblings and took them all to Huntsville, Ontario, where she supported them by earning money performing at the nearby Deerhurst Resort. 1997–2001: Come On Over and international pop breakthrough In 1997, Twain released her follow-up album, Come On Over. It established her as a successful crossover singer. Slowly, following the release of lead singles Love Gets Me Every Time" and "Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)", which allowed Twain to make more appearances in the Billboard Hot 100, the album started racking up sales. It never hit the top spot, but with the multi-chart hit single "You're Still the One", sales skyrocketed. Other songs like "When", "Honey, I'm Home", "You've Got a Way", "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", "That Don't Impress Me Much", "From This Moment On", "Rock This Country!" and the title track are 8 of the 12 songs that eventually saw release as singles. "From This Moment On" is a duet with singer Bryan White and there was a re-recorded solo pop version as well. The album stayed on the charts for the next two years, going on to sell 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling album of all time by a female musician. She continued to break international boundaries for country music and female crossover artists. It is also the eighth biggest-selling album by any type of artist in the US and the top selling country album in history. Songs from the album won four Grammy Awards during this time, including Best Country Song and Best Female Country Performance (for "You're Still the One" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!") for Twain. Lange won Grammys for "You're Still the One" and "Come On Over". Despite the album's record sales it wasn't able to top the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 2. In 1998, following the pop release of "You're Still the One", the Come On Over album was released in a remixed format for the European market as a pop album with less country instrumentation, and actually gave her the big breakthrough in Europe she and her producer husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange were looking for. Come On Over went to No. 1 on the UK album charts for 11 weeks. It became the biggest selling album of the year in Great Britain and a bestseller in other big European markets as well, selling more than one million copies in Germany and nearly 4 million in the UK alone. Although "You're Still The One" and the pop version of "From This Moment On" cracked the Top 10 of the UK charts and "When" had minor success in the Top 20, the songs that had finally drawn European attention to the album were the pop remixed singles "That Don't Impress Me Much", a No.3 in the UK and Top 10 hit in Germany in the summer of 1999, and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" which peaked at No.3 in both the UK and France in autumn of that year. Additionally, "You've Got a Way" was remixed specifically for inclusion on the Notting Hill soundtrack. Subsequently, a reissue of the international version of the album was released worldwide, including the US and Europe, containing three of these new remixes. Additionally, the album set the record for the longest ever stay in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200, remaining in the Top 20 for 99 weeks. In 1998, Twain launched her first major concert tour, aided by her manager Jon Landau, a veteran of many large-scale tours with Bruce Springsteen. The Come On Over Tour shows were a success, winning the "Country Tour of the Year" in 1998 and 1999 by Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. In 2000, Twain was initially scheduled to release a Christmas album, but plans to release one were cancelled later in the year. Following the success of Come On Over, independent label Limelight Records released The Complete Limelight Sessions in October 2001. The album includes 16 tracks recorded in the late 1980s before Twain signed her record deal with Mercury. 2016–present: Now, second Las Vegas residency In October 2016, Twain confirmed to Rolling Stone that she had new music coming "really soon." In December 2016 in an interview with Billboard, she spoke about her forthcoming album, describing the finished product as "kind of schizophrenic musically" maintaining "She's the glue". In February 2017, Twain again spoke to Rolling Stone about the album; select song titles were confirmed, as Twain detailed that she had not only hoped to release a single in March, but that she planned to release the album in May. She performed at the 2017 Stagecoach Festival, held on April 29. In April 2017, Billboard announced that Twain's new single, "Life's About to Get Good", would premiere in June, with the album projected for release in September. Twain headlined the 2017 Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, where she previewed her new music for the first time. Twain performed on the Today Show's "Summer Concert Series" on June 16, 2017. Her fifth studio album, Now, was released on September 29, 2017 and would debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In June 2017, Twain announced on ET Canada that she would in fact tour with her new album Now. The Now Tour was announced by Twain on her official website on August 17, 2017. The album's second single, "Swingin' With My Eyes Closed", was released on August 18, 2017. She has also internationally released two other promotional singles off of Now, including "Poor Me" and "We've Got Something They Don't". In June 2019, Twain announced her second Las Vegas residency, Let's Go!, which opened on December 6, 2019, and will run for two years. TV and film career Twain's mainstream pop acceptance was further helped by her appearance in the 1998 first edition of the VH1 Divas concert where she sang alongside Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Carole King and Aretha Franklin, and also by VH1's 1999 heavily aired Behind the Music, which concentrated on the tragic aspects of her early life as well as her physical attractiveness and Nashville's early resistance to her bare-midriff music videos. After Divas, Shania Twain wrote and/or sang background vocals with her then husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange the songs, "If Walls Could Talk" and "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)" for Celine Dion. On November 12, 2008, Twain made her first television appearance since her split from ex-husband Robert "Mutt" Lange, where she appeared as a surprise presenter at the 42nd CMA Awards. In 2009, Twain served as a guest judge on American Idol, for the show's August 30 and 31 episodes. In April 2010, Twain announced plans for her own TV show, titled Why Not? with Shania Twain. The show debuted on May 8, 2011 on OWN. Twain returned to American Idol as a guest mentor for a week where the top 6 contestants showcased her songs. After the conclusion of the ninth season Twain was very close to becoming a judge but ultimately it was Jennifer Lopez who got the job. Twain guest starred on the Comedy Central series Broad City, in a September 2017 episode titled "Twaining Day". On October 23, 2017, Twain appeared as a guest judge on the 25th season of Dancing with the Stars during the show's "Movie Night", and also performed her song "Soldier". Twain appeared as a guest judge on episode five of the 10th Season of Rupaul's Drag Race. She competed against singer Meghan Trainor in an episode of TBS's Drop the Mic which aired in January 2018. Twain was guest of honor for a Lip Sync Battle episode on Paramount Network pitting Derek Hough against Nicole Scherzinger that was dedicated to her and her music. The tribute episode aired June 21, 2018. In November 2018, Twain appeared in the reality talent show Real Country, as an executive producer and co-presenter with Jake Owen and Travis Tritt. In 2019, Twain made her film debut in the film Trading Paint, co-starring alongside John Travolta. Twain will play the role of the mother of singer Jeremy Camp in the 2020 biopic I Still Believe. Personal life Twain is a vegetarian and a devotee of Sant Mat, an Eastern spiritual philosophy. Twain met producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange after he heard her original songs and singing from her debut album; he then offered to produce and write songs with her. They first met at Nashville's Fan Fair in June 1993 and quickly became close. They were married on December 28, 1993 and had a son, Eja (pronounced "Asia"), in August 2001. On May 15, 2008, it was announced that Twain and Lange were separating after Lange allegedly had an affair with Twain's best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. Their divorce was finalized on June 9, 2010. On December 20, 2010, it was reported that Twain was engaged to Swiss Nestlé executive Frédéric Thiébaud, the ex-husband of Marie-Anne. They were married on January 1, 2011, in Rincón, Puerto Rico. She created Shania Kids Can in 2010, to address the needs of young school children who are typically overlooked by social assistance programs. Twain's autobiography, From This Moment On, was released on March 27, 2011. Twain is a long-time resident of Corseaux, Switzerland, where her son was born.