Shania Twain
singer-songwriter, aka The Queen of Country Pop | born 1965
BornEilleen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Biographyby Sarah Boesveld
The recent evolution of country music can be broken up into two eras: before Shania Twain and after Shania Twain. The small-town singer-songwriter rewrote the rules when she and rock producer Mutt Lange released 1995’s The Woman in Me, bringing arena rock and pop into a staunchly conservative genre that clung to traditional roots. When her next record, Come on Over, became the highest selling album of all time by a female artist, it was official: the Queen of Country Pop was, hands down, country’s biggest crossover success story, paving a highway for top-selling genre-jumper Taylor Swift. An officer of the Order of Canada, Twain has won 187 awards over her career, including 26 Canadian Country Music Awards, 12 JUNOS, nine Billboard Awards and five Grammys. A sexy telegenic midriff-bearing product of the music video’s golden age, Twain steered country into the 21st century.
IN DEPTH
One of country music’s biggest success stories, the girl who grew up without a winter coat in Timmins, Ont., had the genre in her blood, but not on her stereo. “By the time I signed with [her first label] PolyGram it had been years since I’d sung or listened to country music,” she wrote in her 2011 autobiography From This Moment On. “I wasn’t familiar with any contemporary country singers—not even Reba McEntire!” (She got to know her though—in 1999, McEntire would crown Twain the Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year.)
At that time, McEntire was about the only female heavyweight in a genre dominated by men, and not since the dance-centric hits of 1992 (think “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks & Dunn) had anyone tried to push the boundaries of country. Twain’s goal to become a “mixed-bag, original artist” came to fruition in her unlikely 1993 partnership with AC/DC rock producer Mutt Lange. Their blend of anthemic, album-oriented pop-rock and country twang was antithetical to the current country sound. Country radio was nervous to play The Woman in Me’s stadium rock single “Any Man of Mine,” but in July 1995, it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s country singles sales chart and stayed there for 10 weeks. “It was the first No. 1 single on that chart by a non-American since Anne Murray’s ‘Now and Forever’ in 1986 and was my first Top 40 crossover hit on the pop charts,” Twain wrote in 2011.
The Nashville success was a far cry from humble beginnings in which Twain’s mother would coax her eight-year-old daughter out of bed to perform country and pop standards after last call in the local bars, when alcohol service had ended. “My intent has always been to become successful,” Twain told a CBC interviewer in 1995. “My parents always taught me ‘You have to look your best, you have to dress a certain way, you have to be a professional.’”
Her parents would not live to see her success: they died in a head-on car crash on Nov. 1, 1987, when Twain was 22, and she became the head of the family. She was ready to quit music altogether, before taking a job in a “Vegas-style production” at Deerhurst, a golf resort in Huntsville, Ont. During a set that included an emotional performance of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings,” Twain impressed prominent music business attorney Richard Frank. He played her demo tape of original material for esteemed Nashville producer Norro Wilson, who gave Twain her first recording deal, leading to the self-titled debut, Shania Twain. Thanks to the explosive success of her second album, The Woman in Me, Twain didn’t even have to tour. The rock, pop and video focus kept her on fans’ stereos and televisions through each successive No. 1 hit.
Twain’s third album, Come on Over, cemented her place as an international pop star, sending her on a massive global tour and moving her to release future albums with singles designed for pop and country charts. When, in her early days at Deerhurst, she picked the stage name Shania (which means “I’m on my way” in Ojibwa), the once coatless kid from Timmins could never have known just how apt it would be: she was already on her way to becoming one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
The recent evolution of country music can be broken up into two eras: before Shania Twain and after Shania Twain. The small-town singer-songwriter rewrote the rules when she and rock producer Mutt Lange released 1995’s The Woman in Me, bringing arena rock and pop into a staunchly conservative genre that clung to traditional roots. When her next record, Come on Over, became the highest selling album of all time by a female artist, it was official: the Queen of Country Pop was, hands down, country’s biggest crossover success story, paving a highway for top-selling genre-jumper Taylor Swift. An officer of the Order of Canada, Twain has won 187 awards over her career, including 26 Canadian Country Music Awards, 12 JUNOS, nine Billboard Awards and five Grammys. A sexy telegenic midriff-bearing product of the music video’s golden age, Twain steered country into the 21st century.
IN DEPTH
One of country music’s biggest success stories, the girl who grew up without a winter coat in Timmins, Ont., had the genre in her blood, but not on her stereo. “By the time I signed with [her first label] PolyGram it had been years since I’d sung or listened to country music,” she wrote in her 2011 autobiography From This Moment On. “I wasn’t familiar with any contemporary country singers—not even Reba McEntire!” (She got to know her though—in 1999, McEntire would crown Twain the Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year.)
At that time, McEntire was about the only female heavyweight in a genre dominated by men, and not since the dance-centric hits of 1992 (think “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks & Dunn) had anyone tried to push the boundaries of country. Twain’s goal to become a “mixed-bag, original artist” came to fruition in her unlikely 1993 partnership with AC/DC rock producer Mutt Lange. Their blend of anthemic, album-oriented pop-rock and country twang was antithetical to the current country sound. Country radio was nervous to play The Woman in Me’s stadium rock single “Any Man of Mine,” but in July 1995, it went to No. 1 on Billboard’s country singles sales chart and stayed there for 10 weeks. “It was the first No. 1 single on that chart by a non-American since Anne Murray’s ‘Now and Forever’ in 1986 and was my first Top 40 crossover hit on the pop charts,” Twain wrote in 2011.
The Nashville success was a far cry from humble beginnings in which Twain’s mother would coax her eight-year-old daughter out of bed to perform country and pop standards after last call in the local bars, when alcohol service had ended. “My intent has always been to become successful,” Twain told a CBC interviewer in 1995. “My parents always taught me ‘You have to look your best, you have to dress a certain way, you have to be a professional.’”
Her parents would not live to see her success: they died in a head-on car crash on Nov. 1, 1987, when Twain was 22, and she became the head of the family. She was ready to quit music altogether, before taking a job in a “Vegas-style production” at Deerhurst, a golf resort in Huntsville, Ont. During a set that included an emotional performance of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings,” Twain impressed prominent music business attorney Richard Frank. He played her demo tape of original material for esteemed Nashville producer Norro Wilson, who gave Twain her first recording deal, leading to the self-titled debut, Shania Twain. Thanks to the explosive success of her second album, The Woman in Me, Twain didn’t even have to tour. The rock, pop and video focus kept her on fans’ stereos and televisions through each successive No. 1 hit.
Twain’s third album, Come on Over, cemented her place as an international pop star, sending her on a massive global tour and moving her to release future albums with singles designed for pop and country charts. When, in her early days at Deerhurst, she picked the stage name Shania (which means “I’m on my way” in Ojibwa), the once coatless kid from Timmins could never have known just how apt it would be: she was already on her way to becoming one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Contemporary Country Singer-Songwriter | born 1961
artist, singer-songwriter | 1950 - 1996
