Shania Twain was born in Windsor Ontario Canada on the 28th August 1965. Then she was known as Eilleen Regina Edwards.Just a few years later her parents Clarence and Sharon were divorced. Sharon took the children up to north to Timmins Ontario where she would marry an Ojibwa (Native Canadian) by the name of Jerry Twain, he adopted Eilleen and her two sisters, Jill (the eldest child) and Carrie ann (the youngest). Soon after they married they had two more children, first Mark, then Darryl. The family grew up in relative poverty and Shania's mother Sharon was often depressed. Sometimes they would join the local native reservation to hunt for food, usually in the winter months when there was no work and no money coming in. They would often eat things that her friends and school mates wouldn't dream of eating. But if they didn't eat things like deer and partridge, they simply would have starved. And in redbook magazine in 1999 Shania talked about what it was like back then, ''Most kids feel inferior if they don't have the right jeans on, I was way beyond that. I was worried about what was in my lunch. Nobody knew we were hungry, and I did everything I could to hide it.'' Shania would often take bread with mustard on, just to make it appear that she had a lunch, terrified that the authorities would find out and take her away from her family.But throughout all this Shania's mother was determined to nurture her daughters obvious talent early on. When she was just 3 years old she remembers her mother putting her up on counter tops to sing. Then when she was just 8 years old she was performing her parents favorite country songs in old people's homes and bars (after hours when they had stopped serving liquer). Soon she was even appearing on TV shows. Behind all this was the support of her parents, who wanted her to succeed. Sharon was booking her in everywhere and Shania loved to sing, as her sister Carrie Ann once commented, ''Shania would always be singing, even just walking down the street. I'd be so embarrassed.'' From the age of 10 Shania was writing her own songs and dreaming of a much better life. When she was in her teens she had a job at mcdonalds after school, she worked on her dads reforestation business and at the age of 16 she played in her first band. A band named Longshot, ''We were pretty good actually, pretty dangerous for my home town and pretty popular.'' (FHM 1998)
Music was Shania's life, she would skip classes in school to write songs in the music room and after graduation she played in bar bands that played anything from pop to rock. ''There's something more moving about music than anything else in life for me, It's like a drug, I spent my teen years being high on music.'' (redbook)
Then when she was 21 years old she moved from Timmins to work in Toronto, secretary by day and singer by night. Until she got the call that would change her life forever, when she was just 22 years old her sister rang her with the terrible news that her parents had be killed in a car accident. Both of her brothers were also in the vehicle and survived. This turned young Eilleen's life upside down, ''Yes, you can lose somebody overnight, yes your whole life can be turned upside down. Life is short. It can come and go like a feather in the wind.'' (Country America 1998)
She went back home to be with her brothers and sister Carrie Ann, where she would continue to help raise them until they were old enough to take care of themselves. She moved them to Hunstville Ontario where she performed at the Deerhurst Resort night after night, as a singer. She looks back on this as good experience and a learning period, like going to music school, which she never had a chance to do.
While at Deerhurst family friend Mary Bailey set up a meeting with some guys from Nashville, who came to see her perform at Deerhurst. They invited her to Nashville to cut a demo. Soon after, when her siblings had all left the nest, she was offered her first recording contract with Mercury Nashville. The first album wasn't a big success but it did gather attention from a certain south african record producer called Mutt Lange. Then living in England, he would watch CMT Europe for the lastest releases. One day he happened to see Shania's video for 'What made you say that?' and immediately wanted to know more. A friend in Nashville sent him Shania's CD. He contacted Mary Bailey in the hope of getting to speak to Shania and in return was sent a signed photo. He didn't give up however, and soon he and Shania were talking on the phone on a regular basis and sharing song ideas. They finally met at fan fair June 1993 and already were best friends. Over the next few months they wrote songs together whenever they could and eventually they found that they had fallen in love, on December 28th 1993 they were married. The next six years went like a whirlwind, two hugely successful albums, co-written and produced by her husband Robert John Mutt lange (The Woman In Me and Come On Over) and a high profile, highly successful world tour. With Shania's enthusiam for life you can be sure there is a lot more to come, ''You never know what's around the next corner, but you have to be willing to explore it, '' she told Country America magazine.
Come On Over is the biggest-selling country album of all time by any artist, male or female, and is now tied as the fifth best-selling single CD release, following The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac. The soundtrack to ''The Bodyguard'' shares that slot with ''Come On Over''.
But even with this much success Shania remains firmly grounded, attending her high school reunion in summer 2000 without a bodyguard. She lives in Switzerland with her husband Mutt Lange, loves horses and her dogs. She tries to keep her life as normal as possible and dislikes being treated like a star.
A rare breed of talent with a warmth that reaches her fans worldwide because of her undeniable quality to interact with her audience in a down to earth way. This makes Shania a people's person and a success story that is sure to grow.
