Shania Twain

Shania Twain OC
Twain at the 2011 Juno Awards
Born	Eilleen Regina Edwards (1965-08-28) August 28, 1965 (age 53) Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Singer songwriter
Spouse(s)	Robert John "Mutt" Lange (m. 1993; div. 2010) Frédéric Thiébaud (m. 2011)
Children	1
Musical career
Origin	Timmins, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Country country pop country rock pop
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Mercury Nashville
Website	shaniatwain.com

Shania Twain, OC (/ʃəˈnaɪ.ə/; born Eilleen Regina Edwards; 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.^[1][2][3] Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the "Queen of Country Pop".^[4][5]

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.^[6] 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 retired from performing and began an indefinite hiatus from music, revealing years later that diagnoses with Lyme disease and dysphonia led to a severely weakened singing voice.^{[7][8][9][10]} She chronicled her vocal rehabilitation on the OWN miniseries Why Not? with Shania Twain in 2011 and released her first single in six years, "Today Is Your Day", as well as publishing her autobiography, From This Moment On. Twain returned to the concert stage 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.^[11][12] Twain released her fifth studio album and first 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.^[13] According to the RIAA she is the only female artist in history to have three (consecutive) albums certified Diamond by the RIAA.^[14] Altogether, Twain is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era.^[15]

Early life[edit]

Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario on August 28, 1965,^[16] 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 then moved to Timmins, Ontario with her daughters. Sharon married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa from the nearby Mattagami First Nation, and they had a son together, Mark. Jerry adopted the girls, legally changing their last name to Twain. When Mark was still a toddler, Jerry and Sharon adopted Jerry's baby nephew, Darryl, after Darryl's mother died. Because of Twain's connection to Jerry, the media have reported that she is of Ojibwe descent,^[17] but she stated in an interview that her biological father was part Cree, a claim his family denies.^[18] Her confirmed ancestry includes English, French, and Irish.^[19][20] Through a maternal great-grandmother, she is a descendant of French carpenter Zacharie Cloutier.^[21] Her Irish maternal grandmother, Eileen Pearce, emigrated from Newbridge, County Kildare.^[22]

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 at times stormy, and from a young age, Twain 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.^[23] 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.^[24] 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."^[25] Twain wrote her first songs at the age of 10, "Is Love a Rose" and "Just Like the Storybooks," which were rhyming fairy tales.^[26] She states that the art of creating, of actually writing songs, "was very different from performing them and became progressively important".^[26]

At the age of 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.^[27] In the early 1980s, Twain spent some time working with her father's reforestation business in northern Ontario, a business that 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."^[28]

Career[edit]

1983–1992: Beginnings[edit]

After graduating from Timmins High in June 1983, Twain was eager to expand her musical horizons.^[29] After the demise of the band Longshot, Twain was approached by a cover band led by Diane Chase called "Flirt" and they toured all over Ontario.^[29] Twain also began taking singing lessons from Toronto-based coach Ian Garrett and would often clean his house in payment for her lessons.^[30] 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".^[30] 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.^[31][30] 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."^[32] 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".^[33]

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.^[34] 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.^[34] 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, jazz 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.^[35]

On November 1, 1987, Twain's mother and stepfather died in a car accident approximately 50 kilometres north of Wawa, Ontario.^[36] As a result, Twain moved back to Timmins to take care of her younger siblings and then took them all to Huntsville, Ontario. There, she supported them by earning money performing at the nearby Deerhurst Resort.^[37]

1993–1994: Shania Twain[edit]

A couple of years passed and Twain's siblings got older and moved out on their own. Twain assembled a demo tape of her songs and her Huntsville manager set up a showcase for Twain to present her material to record executives. She caught the attention of a few labels, including Mercury Nashville Records, who signed her within a few months.^[38] During this time, she changed her name to Shania, which was said to be an Ojibwa word which means "on my way." However, Twain's biographer, Robin Eggar, writes: "There is a continuing confusion about what 'Shania' means and if indeed it is an Ojibwe word or phrase at all. [...] There is no mispronounced or misheard phrase in either Ojibwe or Cree that comes close to meaning 'on my way.' Yet the legend of her name continues to be repeated in the media to this day."^[39]

Twain's self-titled debut album was released in 1993 in North America and garnered her audiences outside Canada. Shortly before its release, she sang backing vocals for other Mercury artists, including Jeff Chance's 1992 album Walk Softly on the Bridges^[40] and Sammy Kershaw's 1993 album Haunted Heart.^[41] Shania Twain only reached No.67 on the US Country Albums Chart, but it gained positive reviews from critics. The album failed to sell significant copies initially. However, Twain's future success generated enough interest for the album to be certified platinum six years later by the RIAA, denoting sales of over 1 million. 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". The album was more successful in Europe, where Twain won Country Music Television Europe's "Rising Video Star of the Year" award.^[38] In her 2011 autobiography From This Moment On, Twain expressed displeasure with her debut studio album, revealing that she had very little creative control and expressed frustration with not being able to showcase her songwriting ability.^[42]

1995–1996: The Woman in Me and commercial success[edit]

When rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange heard Twain's original songs and singing from her debut album, he offered to produce and write songs with her. After many telephone conversations, they met at Nashville's Fan Fair in June 1993. Twain and Lange became very close within just weeks, culminating in their wedding on December 28, 1993. Lange and Twain either wrote or co-wrote the songs that would form her second studio album, The Woman in Me.^[38][43]

The Woman in Me was released on February 7, 1995. The album's first single, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" went to No. 11 on the Billboard Country Chart. This was followed by her first Country Top 10 and No.1 hit single, "Any Man of Mine", which also cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Twain had further hits from the album, including the title track which peaked at No.14 and three additional No.1 hits: "(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!", "You Win My Love", and "No One Needs to Know", which was selected for the original soundtrack for the 1996 film Twister, a first for Twain, plus minor country hit "Home Ain't where His Heart Is (Anymore)" and a re-recorded gospel version of the album track "God Bless The Child" with new lyrics.^[38] Meanwhile, in Australia, five of these singles: "Any Man of Mine", "The Woman in Me", "I'm Outta Here!" "You Win My Love" and "God Bless The Child," were remixed for the Australian pop market, and "I'm Outta Here!" became Twain's breakthrough hit there, reaching No.5 on the ARIA charts.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2007, the album had sold more than 12 million copies.^[44] The album was a quick breakthrough and because of this Twain performed selected international venues and television shows including two CMA Fan Fair performances with Nashville guitarists Randy Thomas (co-writer of the song "Butterfly Kisses"), Dan Schafer,^[45] Chris Rodriguez, Russ Taff, Hugh McDonald bass player of Bon Jovi, Dave Malachowski and Stanley T., formerly with The Beach Boys.^{[citation needed]}

Mercury Nashville's promotion of the album was based largely upon a series of music videos.^[46] During this period, Twain made major television appearances on shows such as two performances on Late Show with David Letterman, Blockbuster Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards. The Woman in Me won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album^[47] as well as the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year;^[48] the latter group also awarded Twain as Best New Female Vocalist.^[49]

1997–2001: Come On Over and international pop breakthrough[edit]

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, 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", 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 and there was a re-recorded solo pop version as well.^[50]

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.^[51] 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^[44] 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".^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[52]

In 2000, Twain was initially scheduled to release a Christmas album, but plans to release one were cancelled later in the year.^[53]

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.^{[citation needed]}

2002–2004: Up![edit]

After a change in management – QPrime replaced Landau – and a two-year break, along with the birth of their son, Eja (pronounced "Asia") D'Angelo, who was born on August 12, 2001,^[54] Twain and Lange returned to the studio. Up! was released on November 19, 2002. On January 26, 2003, Twain performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. About a year later, Twain kicked off the Up! Tour in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on September 25, 2003. Up! was released with three different discs – country/acoustic (green CD), pop/rock (red CD), and world/dance (blue CD). Up! was given four out of five stars by Rolling Stone magazine, and debuted at No.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. Twain's crossover appeal in country, pop, and dance music, led the album Up! to sell over 11 million copies by 2004. Up! reached No.1 in Germany, No.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 Indian-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 Indian influence.^[55]

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!.^[56] In November 2004, she appeared on the annual BBC charity telethon Children in Need. During the show, she performed "Up!", and then took part in an all-star magic act in which she was sawn in half by magician Scott Penrose in an illusion called Clearly Impossible.^[57]

The first single from the album, "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" became a top 10 country hit in the US, after debuting at No. 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 No. 4 in the UK. In Australia, Germany and France the song reached the Top 15 in each case. 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 No.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 No.4 on the country chart and No.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", which was 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" (No. 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 US and was certified by the RIAA as 11x platinum (the organization counts double albums as two units).^[44]

2004–2010: Greatest Hits and delay of new album[edit]

In 2004, she released the Greatest Hits album, with three new tracks. As of 2012, it had sold over 4.15 million copies in the US.^[44] 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 reach the Country Top 40.^[58]

In August 2005, she released the single "Shoes" from the Desperate Housewives soundtrack. In 2008, Twain and Anne Murray recorded a duet version of Murray's hit "You Needed Me" for her 2007 album, Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends.^[59]

In June 2009, Twain released a letter to her fans explaining the delays in the release of her next album, noting she had gone through personal pains and was focusing on raising her son Eja.^[60] In August 2009, at a conference in Timmins, Ontario, a spokesman for Twain's label said a new record from the singer was still "nowhere in sight".^[61]

2011–2015: Return to music, residency, and tour[edit]

In May 2011, Twain confirmed in an interview that she would release her first new single in six years, "Today Is Your Day", after the finale of Why Not? with Shania Twain.^[62] Twain previewed the song in the first episode of the series.^[62] Twain worked with music producers David Foster and Nathan Chapman on the song. She also published her autobiography with Atria Books, From This Moment On. The last episode of "Why Not?" features Twain and Lionel Richie recording "Endless Love" which would be the first single from his 2012 album, Tuskegee.^[63] "Today Is Your Day" was officially released to iTunes and country radio on June 12, 2011.^[64] In addition to "Today Is Your Day", Twain also collaborated with Michael Bublé on his 2011 album Christmas (also produced by David Foster). Twain recorded "White Christmas" with Bublé, which was the first single from the album.^[65] On June 8, 2011, at a press conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Twain announced that she would headline Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for two years.^[64] Her show, titled Still the One, began on December 1, 2012, with shows expected to run in 2013 and 2014.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2013, Twain announced on Facebook that she was working on her album over the summer during a break from Still the One. In October 2013, Twain sat down with Robin Roberts from Good Morning America as a featured artist on the Countdown to the CMA Awards. In the interview, Twain said that a new album was coming, but she said that she was still in the process of finding the right producer.^{[citation needed]}

Outside of her show at Caesars Palace, Twain performed two concerts at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta, on July 9 and 10, 2014. In a series of interviews leading up to her Calgary Stampede shows, Twain said she hoped to tour in 2015 and that it would lead to the release of a new album.^[66] Alongside her Calgary Stampede shows, Twain also headlined a show on Labour Day weekend at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.^[67]

On March 4, 2015, Twain announced on Good Morning America she would be going on tour for the first time in 11 years, and would begin June 5 in Seattle, Washington and end on October 11 in Toronto, Ontario. Twain also announced this would be her last tour before her fifth studio album, which she intends to release while she is 50.^[68] In an interview on Global Television Network's The Morning Show on March 6, Twain confirmed that she is not retiring from her music career after the tour.^[69] In an interview with Radio.com published on March 5, she stated that she has found several producers for her upcoming album, describing it as "soul music".^[70]

On August 24, 2015, Twain stated: "First, I have to finish my new album this winter. Six tracks are already completed. I've written 38 songs in total, and now the process is underway to narrow that down to another six or eight to finish recording". That same month, it was announced by several sources, that even though her current Rock This Country Tour is her final time touring, she is possibly planning on extending the tour overseas because the Rock This Country tour was only based in the United States and Canada. Twain also mentioned, possibly returning to Las Vegas with a new residency show for possibly late 2016 or 2017. The new show would end up featuring music from her long-awaited new album as well as her hits.^[71]

2016–present: Now[edit]

In October 2016, Twain confirmed to Rolling Stone that she had new music coming "really soon."^[72] 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".^[73] 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.^[74] She performed at the 2017 Stagecoach Festival, held on April 29.^[75]

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.^[76] Twain performed on the Today Show's "Summer Concert Series" on June 16, 2017.^[77] Her fifth studio album, Now, was released on September 29, 2017^[78] and would debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.^[79]

In June 2017, Twain announced on ET Canada that she would in fact tour with her new album Now.^[80] The Now Tour was announced by Twain on her official website on August 17, 2017.^[81]

The album's second single, "Swingin' With My Eyes Closed", was released on August 18, 2017.^[82] She has also internationally released two other promotional singles off of Now, including "Poor Me" and "We've Got Something They Don't".^[83][84]

TV career[edit]

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.^[85]

In 2009, Twain served as a guest judge on American Idol, for the show's August 30 and 31 episodes.^[86][87]

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.^[88] Twain returned to American Idol as a guest mentor for a week where the top 6 contestants showcased her songs.^[89] 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.^[90]

Twain guest starred on the Comedy Central series Broad City, in a September 2017 episode titled "Twaining Day".^[91]

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".^[92][93] Twain will be a guest judge on the 10th Season of Rupaul's Drag Race.^[94]

Endorsements[edit]

In January 2005, Twain joined Scentstories by Febreze to create a limited edition scent disc with the proceeds going to America's Second Harvest.^[95]

In late 2005, Twain partnered with Coty to produce her namesake fragrance "Shania" by Stetson. A second fragrance was released in September 2007, called "Shania Starlight".^[96]

On January 1, 2010, Twain carried the Olympic Torch through her hometown as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay.^[97]

Personal life[edit]

Twain is a vegetarian^[98][99] and a devotee of Sant Mat, an Eastern spiritual philosophy.^[100] In 2009, she was reported as having the "perfect face". The BBC reported on a study on this, led by the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego, which appeared in the journal Vision Research.^[101]

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.^[102] 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.^[103][104] Their divorce was finalized on June 9, 2010.^[105] On December 20, 2010, it was revealed that Twain was engaged to Swiss Nestlé executive Frédéric Thiébaud, the ex-husband of Marie-Anne.^{[106][107][108]} They were married on January 1, 2011 in Rincón, Puerto Rico.^[109]

Twain's autobiography, From This Moment On, was released on March 27, 2011.^[110]

Twain is a long-time resident of Corseaux, Switzerland.^[111] Her son was born there.

On April 22, 2018, Twain said in an interview with The Guardian she would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election if eligible to vote.^[112] The following day, she issued an apology in a series of tweets saying she was caught off guard by a question asked to her and did not put enough context into her answer, and denied that it was an endorsement of the president.^[113]

Awards and honours[edit]

In addition to her various awards for her singles and albums, Twain has received a number of personal honours:

• She was named the 1999 Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association; Twain was the first non-US citizen to win the CMA award.^{[citation needed]}
• Twain was ranked No.7 in Country Music Television's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002.^[114]
• In 2003, Twain was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.^[57]
• The city of Timmins Ontario, renamed a street for her, gave her the key to the city, and built the Shania Twain Centre in her honour.^[115]
• On November 18, 2005, Twain was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada.^[116][117]
• Twain was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the Juno Awards on March 27, 2011.^[118]
• On June 2, 2011, Twain received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star is the 2,442nd Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Category of Recording.^[119]
• In 2016, Twain was declared the "Artist of a Lifetime" by CMT and was given a special award during the 2016 Artists of the Year ceremony.^[120]
• In January 2017, it was announced that Twain will have her own exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame titled Shania Twain: Rock This Country, which will open on June 26 and run through 2018.
• In 2018, Twain was announced as the second recipient of the CCMA Generation Award.^[121] This is awarded to artists who have had significant impact in the country music industry as well as awareness of country music worldwide.

Discography[edit]

• Shania Twain (1993)
• The Woman in Me (1995)
• Come On Over (1997)
• Up! (2002)
• Now (2017)

Tours and residencies[edit]

• Triple Play Tour (1993; with John Brannen and Toby Keith)
• Come On Over Tour (1998–1999)
• Up! Tour (2003–2004)
• Shania: Still the One (2012–2014)
• Rock This Country Tour (2015)^[122]
• Now Tour (2018)

See also[edit]

Book: Shania Twain

• Music of Canada
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
• Honorific nicknames in popular music

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Twain, Shania (2011), From This Moment On, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 1-4516-2074-8 .
• Eggar, Robin (2005), Shania Twain:The Biography, New York City: Country Music Television Inc., Pocket Books, ISBN 0-7434-9735-X .
• Hager, Barbara (1996), On Her Way: The Life and Music of Shania Twain, Toronto: Raincoast Books, ISBN 0-425-16451-9 .

External links[edit]

• Official website
• Shania Twain at Billboard.com
• Shania Twain on IMDb

Preceded by Sass Jordan & Michel Pagliaro

Grey Cup Halftime Show 2002

Succeeded by Bryan Adams