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SHANIA TWAIN BIOGRAPHY |
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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. |
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