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Not only has Shania Twain's music career
launched her into music history, as one of the top
music sellers of all time, but her cosmetic line (Shania)
is one of the most sought after items. Shania
Twain's record sales put her among the top selling
artists of all time, in any music genre.
Shania Twain is already a legend, and not even 40
yet. The mother of two enjoys to spend most of her
free time between Ontario Canada, and with her
husband Robert Mutt Lang in her house in Europe.
Shania
Twain was actually born under the name Eilleen Regina Edwards, 28 August 1965, Windsor, Ontario,
Canada. This glamorous Canadian country/pop star (her
first name is pronounced "Shu-nye-ah') grew up in the
mining town of Timmins. Before her musical career began
she planted trees with
her
Native American stepfather as part of a forest crew. Poor
even by rural Canadian standards, her family made great
sacrifices to support her embryonic career.
She
took a job at the Deerhurst resort in northern Ontario as
the headline vocalist in a variety of musical productions.
Afterwards she concentrated on country music, employing
her friend and former performer Mary Bailey as her
manager. Bailey put her in contact with attorney Dick
Frank in 1991, leading to a demo tape recorded in
Nashville with songwriter and producer Norro Wilson and
Buddy Cannon, Mercury Records' A&R manager.
Both
the tragedy of her parents' death (they were both
killed in an automobile accident in November 1987) and
their musical legacy were explored on her debut, with
songs written by Mike
Reid and Kent Robbins
. The album's best song, "God Ain't Gonna Get You For
That", was the only one part-composed by the artist,
pointing the way to future artistic growth.
Twain's
follow-up album saw a rare non-rock outing for her
producer, songwriting partner and husband Robert
"Mutt" Lange ,Def Leppard, Foreigner,who spent much of 1994 working on sessions with the singer
in Nashville.
The Woman In Me
was an extraordinary crossover success in the USA, not
only when it was first released, but over a year later,
when it went back to the top of the album charts for
another six months. Sales of this album had topped 10
million by 1998 and yielded four Top 10 country hits.

During that eventful year, Twain won most of the country
music awards, including the Entertainer Of The Year
trophy, and released her follow-up album,
Come On Over.
This was predominantly a pop collection, with Twain's
country roots buried beneath Lange's glossy production.
"You're Still The One" was a crossover hit,
peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May, and the album became a permanent fixture
in both the US and UK Top 10. Another huge US hit,
"From This Moment On", was the single which
broke Twain in the UK, debuting at number 9 in November.
"That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Man! I
Feel Like A Woman" were also huge US/UK hit singles
the following year, and by March 2000 the album was
confirmed as both the best-selling album in country music
history, and the best-selling album ever by a female
artist.
By altering
her musical course slightly, Twain has done much to
popularize country music to a wider US audience and to
reinvent herself in the UK as a pop singer. The heavily
hyped follow-up
Up!
became another huge chart-topping success, showing that
any country fans lost on the way were more than
compensated for by the legions of new young female pop
fans.
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