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Shania Twain, (August 28, 1965) is a
Canadian country pop singer. Her third album Come on Over is the
best-selling album of all time by a female musician and the best-selling
album in the history of country music. She is the only female musician to
have three albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association
of America and is also the second best-selling artist in Canada, behind
fellow Canadian Céline Dion, with three of her studio albums being
certified double diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
Twain has achieved both critical and financial success, having received
five Grammy awards, 27 BMI Songwriter awards, and she has sold over 65
million albums worldwide to date, including 48 million in the USA alone.
She is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen Soundscan
era, with approximately 33,591,000 sales through April 5, 2008, based on
relatively few releases.
Shania Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, daughter
of Clarence and Sharon Edwards. Her parents divorced when she was two, and
her mother then moved with Eileen and her sister Jill to Timmins, Ontario,
where she married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa. He adopted the girls, legally
changing their last name to Twain. Because of her connection to her
stepfather, in the past, people had presumed Twain's ancestry was Ojibwa,
but she stated in an interview that her biological father was part Cree.
Through her mother she is a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier.
One of five children, Eileen Twain had a hard childhood in Timmins. Her
parents earned little, and there was often a shortage of food in the
household. At one point, while Jerry was at work, her mother drove the
rest of the family 425 miles (684 km) to a Toronto homeless shelter for
assistance. She did not confide her situation to school authorities,
fearing they might break up the family. In the remote, rugged community,
she learned to hunt and to chop wood. Aside from working at an Ontario
McDonald's restaurant, Twain began to earn money by singing in local clubs
and bars from a very young age to support her family. She was singing in
bars starting at the age of eight to try to make ends meet, often earning
twenty dollars between midnight and one in the morning performing for
remaining customers after the bar had finished serving. Although she has
expressed a dislike for singing in such a smoky atmosphere at such a young
age, Shania believes that this was her performing arts school on the road
to becoming a successful singer. Shania 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 ten, Is Love a Rose and Just
Like the Storybooks which were fairy tales in rhyme. As a child, Twain has
been described by a close childhood friend Kenny Derasp as "a very serious
kid who spent a lot of time in her room." The art of creating, of actually
writing songs, "was very different from performing them and became
progressively important".
In the early 1980s Shania spent some time working on her father's
reforestation business in northern Ontario, a business that the family was
heavily involved in and employed some 75 Ojibwe and Cree workers. Although
the work was very demanding and the pay very low, Twain has spoken of her
experience, "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".
At 13, Eilleen Twain, the future "Shania" Twain, was invited to perform on
CBC television's Tommy Hunter Show. While attending Timmins High and
Vocational School in Timmins, she was the singer for a local band called
"Longshot" which covered Top 40 music.
After graduating from Timmins High in July 1983, Twain was eager to expand
her musical horizons. After the demise of her band Longshot, Twain was
approached by a covers band led by Diane Chase called "Flirt" and toured
all over Ontario. She began taking singing lessons from Toronto based
coach Ian Garrett and often in not having the money to pay for her lessons
would clean his house in payment. In the autumn of 1984 Twain's talents
were noticed by a Toronto DJ Stan Campbell who wrote about her in a
Country Music News article, "Eileen 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 featured on the backing vocals on the song Heavy on the
Sunshine. Campbell later took Twain to Nashville to record some demos,
which Twain found particularly difficult to finance. Around this time
Twain became acquainted with a regional country singer Mary Bailey who had
had some country chart success in 1976. Bailey had seen her 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".
Mary Bailey bought the contract from Stan Campbell and Twain moved into
Bailey's home on Lake Kenogami where she practiced 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
featured on the backing vocals to the song Too Hot to Handle. She also
demoed songs with Cyril Rawson but without success, partly due to Twain's
wish to become a rock singer, not a country artist and after five months
she returned to Canada and moved in with Bailey in a flat in downtown
Kirkland Lake.
There she met a rock keyboardist Eric Lambier and drummer Randy Yurko,
whom Twain was now dating and they formed a new band, moving three months
later to Bowmanville, near Toronto. In late summer 1986 Mary Bailey had
arranged 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 recognised Twain's ability as well as
looks and the two began secretly dating, despite their clash of
backgrounds. 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 and was not met with any success. Her first
break came on February 8, 1987 when Bell staged a fundraiser for the
National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation at the Roy Thompson Hall in
Toronto where Twain performed with Broadway star Bernadette Peters, jazz
guitarist Don Ross and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Her performance
received little acclaim but it convinced Bell, who loathed pop music, that
Twain should stay well away from it and concentrate on country music.
On November 1, 1987, Twain learned that her mother and adoptive father had
died in a car accident. She took care of her family, moving with her
half-brothers Mark and Darryl and half-sister Carrie Ann to Huntsville,
Ontario, where she supported them by performing at the nearby Deerhurst
Resort.
After Twain's siblings moved out on their own, she assembled a demo tape
of her songs, and her manager set up a showcase for Twain to present her
material to record executives. Twain caught the attention of a few labels,
including Mercury Nashville Records, who signed her within a few months.
During this time, she changed her name to Shania, an Ojibwa word which
means "on my way".
Twain's self-titled debut album was released in 1993 in North America,
garnering audiences outside of her own country. The album only reached #67
on the US Country Albums Chart, but it gained many positive reviews from
critics. The album yielded two minor hit singles in the United States with
"What Made You Say That" and "Dance with the One That Brought You". It was
more successful in Europe, where Twain won Country Music Television
Europe's "Rising Video Star of the Year" award.
The album failed to sell significant copies initially, although Twain's
future success generated enough interest for the album to be certified
platinum six years later by the RIAA, denoting sales of over a million.
That same year, Twain sang harmony vocals on Sammy Kershaw's "Haunted
Heart" album.
When rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange heard Twain's original songs
and singing, he offered to produce her and to write songs with her.
(Twain's manager, Mary Bailey, initially had no idea who he was.) After
many telephone conversations, they met at Nashville's Fan Fair in June
1993. Twain and Lange became very close within just weeks. Lange and Twain
either wrote or co-wrote the songs that would form her second studio
album, The Woman in Me.
The Woman in Me was released in the spring of 1995. The album's first
single, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" went to #11 on the
Billboard Country Chart. This was followed by her first Top 10 and #1 hit
single, "Any Man of Mine." Twain had further hits from the album,
including the title track which peaked at #14 and three additional #1
hits: "(If You're Not in it for Love) I'm Outta Here!", "You Win My Love",
and "No One Needs to Know". As of 2007, it had sold more than 12 million
copies. The album was a quick breakthrough. Shania performed selected
international venues and television shows with Nashville guitarist Randy
Thomas (co-writer of the song "Butterfly Kisses") and Stanley T., formerly
with the Beach Boys. Mercury Record's promotion of the album was based
largely upon a series of sexy music videos. The Woman in Me won the Grammy
Award for Best Country Album as well as the Academy of Country Music award
for Album of the Year; the latter group also awarded Twain as Best New
Female Vocalist.
When rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange heard Twain's original songs
and singing, he offered to produce her and to write songs with her.
(Twain's manager, Mary Bailey, initially had no idea who he was.) After
many telephone conversations, they met at Nashville's Fan Fair in June
1993. Twain and Lange became very close within just weeks. Lange and Twain
either wrote or co-wrote the songs that would form her second studio
album, The Woman in Me.
The Woman in Me was released in the spring of 1995. The album's first
single, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" went to #11 on the
Billboard Country Chart. This was followed by her first Top 10 and #1 hit
single, "Any Man of Mine." Twain had further hits from the album,
including the title track which peaked at #14 and three additional #1
hits: "(If You're Not in it for Love) I'm Outta Here!", "You Win My Love",
and "No One Needs to Know". As of 2007, it had sold more than 12 million
copies. The album was a quick breakthrough. Shania performed selected
international venues and television shows with Nashville guitarist Randy
Thomas (co-writer of the song "Butterfly Kisses") and Stanley T., formerly
with the Beach Boys. Mercury Record's promotion of the album was based
largely upon a series of sexy music videos. The Woman in Me won the Grammy
Award for Best Country Album as well as the Academy of Country Music award
for Album of the Year; the latter group also awarded Twain as Best New
Female Vocalist.
In 1997, Twain released her follow-up album, Come on Over. This was the
album that would establish her as a successful crossover singer. Slowly,
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 "Don't Be Stupid", "Honey, I'm Home", "Man! I Feel Like a
Woman!", "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "From This Moment On" joined the
12 songs that eventually saw release as singles. "From This Moment On" is
a duet with singer Bryan White.
The album stayed on the charts for the next two years and Come on Over
went on to sell 20 million copies in the United States and over 34 million
worldwide, making it the biggest-selling album of all time by a female
musician. It is also the eighth biggest-selling album by any type of
artist in the US.
Songs from the album won four Grammy Awards over the next two years,
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". It was during
this time that Twain cited on numerous occasions the influence of fellow
Canadian musicians the Barenaked Ladies as a large influence on her
songwriting.
Despite the album's record sales it wasn't able to top the Billboard 200,
peaking at #2. In 1999, the "Come on Over" album was remixed 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 were looking for. "Come on over" went to #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. The songs that had finally drawn European attention to the album
were the pop remixed singles "That Don't Impress Me Much", a #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 #3 in both the UK and France in autumn of that
year. 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.
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 and Aretha Franklin, and by
VH1's 1999 heavily-aired Behind the Music treatment of her, which
concentrated on the tragic aspects of her early life as well as her
physical attractiveness and Nashville's early resistance to her
bared-midriff music videos.
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 enthusiastically received by audiences
around the globe and answered critics who speculated that she could not
perform live.
In 2000, Twain was initially scheduled to release a Christmas album, but
plans to release one was cancelled later in the year.
After a change in management — QPrime replaced Landau — and a two year
break, Twain and Lange returned to the studio. Up! was released on
November 19, 2002. About a year later, Twain kicked off the Up! Tour in
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 25, 2003.
Up! was released as a double album, with three different discs—pop (a red
CD), country (a green CD), and international (a blue CD). For North
American markets, the pop disc was paired with the country disc and in
international markets, the pop disc was paired with the world music disc.
Up! was given four out of five stars by Rolling Stone magazine, and
debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, selling 874,000 in the first
week alone. It remained at the top of the charts for five weeks. Up!
reached #1 in Germany, #2 in Australia and the Top Five in the UK and
France. In Germany, Up! was certified 4x platinum and stayed in the Top
100 for one and a half years.
The international music disc was remixed with Bollywood-style orchestral
and percussion parts recorded in Mumbai, India. The new versions were
produced by Simon and Diamond Duggal, brothers from Birmingham, England.
They were originally invited to contribute parts to the pop version of
"I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" which retained the Bollywood influence.
Twain's popularity in UK was reflected by numerous appearances on the
long-running music show Top of the Pops, performing singles from Come on
Over from 1999. In 2002 an entire special show was dedicated to her on
sister show TOTP2, in which Twain herself introduced some past
performances of her greatest hits and new singles from Up!
The first single from the album, "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" became a top 10
country hit in the US, after debuting at an impressive #24 after only five
days of airplay; but only made the Top 40 on the pop charts. It was a much
bigger hit on the other side of the Atlantic, released in a pop version,
the single hit the Top Five in the UK and Australia as well as the Top 15
in Germany and France. The follow-up single "Up!" reached the Top 15 in
the US country charts but failed to reach the pop Top 40.
The second European single became the mid-tempo song "Ka-Ching!" (which
was never released as a single in North America) with lyrics where Twain
was criticizing unchecked consumerism. The song eventually became another
smash hit in the important European markets, reaching #1 in Germany and
Austria and other European countries, the UK Top 10 and the Top 15 in
France.
The third single from the album would be the most successful in the US.
The romantic ballad "Forever and For Always" was released as a single in
April 2003 and peaked at #4 on the country chart and #1 on the Adult
Contemporary chart, and made as well the Billboard Top 20. Again success
was even bigger on the other side of the Atlantic with "Forever and For
Always" again reaching the Top 10 in both, the UK and Germany. Further
singles were "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" a country Top 10 hit, while
the last US single, "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing", made the Top 20 on
both Country and AC.
Due to the enormous European success of Up! and its first three singles,
two more singles were released in the second half of 2003 with up-tempo
"Thank You Baby" (#11 in the UK, Top 20 in Germany) and just before
Christmas the romantic, acoustic ballad "When You Kiss Me", at least a
minor hit in both territories. The title track "Up!" also saw a single
release in a limited edition of European countries, such as Germany, in
early 2004. In January 2008, Up! had sold 5.5 million copies in the U.S.
and was certified by the RIAA as 11x platinum (the organization counts
double albums as two units).
In 2003, Twain participated in the Dolly Parton tribute album Just Because
I'm a Woman, covering Parton's classic "Coat of Many Colors", with backing
vocals by Alison Krauss. The cover peaked at #57 on the Hot Country Songs
charts as an album cut. During the Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show Twain
performed two songs, "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and "Up!"
In 2004, she released the Greatest Hits album, with three new tracks. As
of 2008, it has sold over four million copies in the U.S. The first
single, the multi-format duet "Party for Two", made the country top ten
with Billy Currington, while the pop version with Sugar Ray lead singer
Mark McGrath made top ten in the United Kingdom and Germany. The follow-up
singles, "Don't!" and "I Ain't No Quitter" did not fare as well. The
former made Top 20 on Adult Contemporary, while the latter did not gain
enough airplay to crack the Country Top 40.
On November 19, 2004, she appeared on the BBC charity telethon Children in
Need. In addition to performing "Up!", she also acted as one of the
celebrity assistants in an "all-star" magic act, in an illusion called
"Clearly Impossible", in which she was sawed in half inside a clear-sided
box.
In August 2005, she released the single "Shoes" from the Desperate
Housewives soundtrack. It only peaked at #29 on the country chart and
therefore, a video, which was scheduled to be created, was cancelled.
At the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 16, 2007, Twain
said she was currently writing songs for a new album, and was doing a "lot
of soul searching" and "indulging in the writing."
Twain joined Canadian singer Anne Murray on the song "You Needed Me" on
Murray's Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends album released November
13, 2007 in Canada, and on January 15, 2008 in the U.S. 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 early January 2009, Internet forums were reporting that Twain was
planning to make an announcement regarding her new album on January 26,
2009 but on the 22nd a spokesperson from Mercury Nashville told Country
Weekly that no new album would be coming "anytime soon".
In June 2009, Twain released a letter to her fans explaining the delays in
the release of her next album. In August 2009, at a conference in Timmins,
Ontario, a spokesman for Twain's label said a new record from the singer
is still "nowhere in sight". On August 17, 2009, EW announced that Twain
would be a guest judge on American Idol in Chicago, for the show's August
30 and 31 episodes. On January 1, 2010, Shania carried the Olympic Torch
through her hometown as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay.
Twain married music producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange on December 28,
1993, and they have a son, Eja D'Angelo (pronounced "Asia") who was born
on August 12, 2001. On May 15, 2008, a spokesperson for Mercury Nashville
announced that Twain and Lange were separating.
She resides in a chateau in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland and on a high
country 42,000-acre (170 km2) sheep station near Lake Wanaka, New Zealand.
Twain practices Sant Mat, which calls for daily meditation and
vegetarianism.
Twain has stated that she is uneasy about being a sex symbol, and has
often felt uncomfortable and stressed during photo shoots. She believes
that music will last forever, while an image will not. "When I began
singing, I wanted to be a backing singer for Dolly Parton or Stevie
Wonder, I didn't sign up to be a model or actress and didn't want fame",
she has said. "For me, it's all about music. Music is when I feel at my
best, spiritually, emotionally, and physically".
One of Twain's beauty tips is using ointment known as Bag Balm which is
applied to cows' udders during winter months to protect them from harsh
weather. Twain says she uses it on her legs and face for softer skin.
In 2009, scientists calculated that Twain's face has the "perfect"
dimensions for a woman, based on measurement of facial features. |
