Women in Literature and Music

Shania Twain

Born Eilleen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She was the second child born to Sharon and Clarence Edwards. Shania is of English, Northern Irish, Irish and French-Canadian ancestry. She has an older sister named, Jill and a younger named Carrie-Ann. Her parents divorced when she was 6. Her mother remarried a Ojibwa native, named Jerry Twain, who adopted her as one of his own. She started out by singing in bars after hours and when she was 13, appeared on the Tommy Hunter Show. In November 1987, when she was 22 her parents were killed in a car accident and she became the legal guardian of her half brothers, Mark (13), Darryl (14) and a sister. She put her musical career on hold to take care of her family. In 1991, she changed her name to Shania, which means "I'm on my way" in Ojibwa. She signed a contract with Mercury Nashville the same year and released her first album which failed to capture the attention of listeners.

Her second album titled, Shania Twain, was released in 1993 and broke record sales. She married her producer Robert John Lange that same year. With whom she had a son, Eja (pronounced Asia) born August 12, 2001. Shania divorced Robert in 2008, after she discovered he'd cheated on her with her best friend, Marie-Anne Thiebaud. She married, Frederic Thiebaud (Marie Anne's first husband) in January 2011 and the couple have lived together happily ever since. Frederic was also the one who told Shania about her husband's affair, after he developed his own suspicions and they were able to find solace in each other. There was another obstacle stopping Shania from pursuing her music career: the stress of the divorce had literally caused her to lose her voice. After the split, Shania was diagnosed with dysphonia, a vocal cord disorder that made it difficult for her to speak, let alone sing.

Her biggest country hit was, Love Gets me Every Time (1997), It became the first No 1 country single to stay atop the Billboard country list for 5 consecutive weeks, since Dolly Parton's 1977 release of, Here it Comes Again. Some of Shania's other No 1 singles are: (If You're Not in it For Love) I'm Outta Here!, Who's Bed Have Your Boots Been Under ?, From this Moment On, Don't Be Stupid & That Don't Impress Me Much, all released in 1998. In 1999, she released Man! I Feel Like a Woman and Come on Over. Shania's album, Come On Over  sold 19 million copies worldwide. 

She is one of only 4 Canadians who have reached the peak on Billboard's country chart, the others are, Hank Snow (1950), Anne Murray (1974) and Terri Clark (1999). She has also won 3 Junos: the Junos Fan Choice award, Artist of the Year and Country Recording of the Year. After retiring from releasing music in 2004, she finally released a new album in 2017, starting with the single, Life is About to Get Good. It was her last full-length album in 15 years since, Up! (2002). It was also the first time she'd released an album without her ex-husband, Robert, since her debut in 1993. She is the best-selling country artist of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide, earing her the nickname, "Queen of Country Pop".

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005510/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm