Born Eilleen Edwards on August 28th 1965, to Clarence and Sharon Edwards
in Windsor Ontario.
Shania's biological father (Clarence) left her when she was two.
Jerry Twain met and married the single Sharon and adopted Shania when
she was four.
Shania is Irish and French-Canadian and was raised with the Ojibwa Indian
Culture.
Second oldest of 5 brothers and sisters: Jill, Carrie-Ann, Mark, and Darryl.
Shania means 'On My Way' in Ojibwa.
Shania's first performance was in first grade show-and-tell where she
sang "Country Roads".
Her first public performance was aged 8 at the Mattagami Hotel in Timmins
which she was paid $25 for.
Shania started writing her own songs when she was 10.
Shania's parents sadly died in a car crash in November 1987, Shania was
only 22.
Shania used to serve customers at McDonalds in Timmins, and is now an
honary employee for life.
Shania's dog Tim, is named after her home town Timmins, Ontario.
Shania also has two brown newfoundland dogs and three horses named Dancer,
Star and Tango.
Shania worked in her dad's reforestation business six months out of 12
between ages 17-21.
Shania's first commercial recording was a 1985 duet with Tim Denis called
"Heavy On The Sunshine".
She also sang back vocals on the Sammy Kershaw song "Haunted Heart".
Shania's first album recording was at Deerhurst with producer Harry Hinde
(of Limelight Records). The album featured 80s style rock.
Shania changed her name when she got a record contract as she was told
'Eilleen Twain' didn't flow.
Shania had been asked to change her surname but she decided to change
her first name instead as she wanted to keep 'Twain'.
Her first album (Shania Twain) only contained 1 of her own songs, "God
Aint Gonna Getcha for that".
Sean Penn directed Shania's second video 'Dance with the One Who Brought
You'.
Robert John "Mutt" Lange used Shania's first album to work out to.
Shania first met Mutt over the phone.
The first song Shania sang to Mutt was the chours of "Home Ain't Where
His Heart Is (Anymore)".
Shania and Mutt first met in person at 1993's Fan Fair.
While working on "The Woman In Me" they fell in love. Mutt proposed in
Paris.
Shania and Mutt were married on 28th December 1993 in Huntsville, just
six months after they met.
Shania has been a vegetarian since she married Mutt.
"You Win My Love" was written by Mutt and is the only "The Woman In Me"
track that Shania didnt write.
The Woman In Me is one of the most expensive country albums ever produced.
The Woman In Me has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
Cledus T. Judd wrote a song called "If Shania was Mine", a parody of "Any
Man of Mine".
He also wrote a follow up in 2000 called "Shania I`m Broke", a parody
of "Honey I`m Home".
Part of the video for "Any Man of Mine" was shot on Bo and John Derek's
ranch in St. Inez.
Shania's show horse featured in the video for "Any Man of Mine".
It took 5 hours to get the black velvet pants in the "I'm Outta Here"
video to fit Shania's specifications.
"No One Needs To Know" was featured in "Edie and Pen" starring Stockard
Channing and "Twister" (Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton).
The "Don't Be Stupid" video took about 10 hours to film, compared with
the normal average of 14 hours.
Shania designed her own bus for the '98 tour and brought one of her horses
along with her.
A strip of Highway 11 in Timmins, Ontario is named "Shania Twain Way".
In 1996 Shania was made a honorary life member of the Mattagami First
Nation of Ojibway Indians.
Shania owns a 4x4 Jimmy jeep with 'TWAIN' on the side.
Shania was voted 43rd in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women of 1998" poll.
Shania was the first country artist to appear in Rolling Stone magazine
since Dolly Parton in the 80's
Shania's tour grossed more than $27 million and had over 40 sellouts in
1998.
Come On Over sold 4.87 million (US) units in 1998, making it the fourth
best selling album of the year.
Shania and Mutt have a castel (Château de Sully) at La Tour-de-Peilz (VD)
in Switzerland.
During her Australian tour, Shania's "Come On Over" album hit #1 on the
Australian album chart.
VH1's "Shania Twain: Behind The Music" special when aired in October 1998
became the highest rated VH1-produced program ever.
The "Shania Twain's Winter Break" special received a 10:1 rating in the
US. This means around 9.7 million viewers tuned in to the show in the US
alone.
CMT Canada's highest ever viewing figures (2.34 million) were reached
during 'Shania Sunday'. 1 out of every 13 Canadians tuned in to the special
day of Shania programming.
Shania is the first female artist to have back-to-back albums sell over
10 million copies each.
Shania was the first woman to be named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by
the Nashville Songwriters Association.
Shania has spent more time in the Billboard Hot 100 than any other artist.
In a Reuters/Zogby poll of the 20th century's best singers Shania came
6th. A high compliment considering that the poll covered the last 100 years
of music.
NASCAR driver Tim Fedewa named his car 'Shania'.
Shania was voted 50th in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women of 1999" poll.
While visiting Colorado on her tour, Shania met with five students still
hospitalized from the Columbine High School shootings. She brought each
of the students a signed photo and portable CD player.
TDIMM is Shania's most successful UK single so far. It entered the Pepsi
chart at #3 and spent 7 weeks in the top 5, followed by a further 5 weeks
in the top 10 and then 4 weeks in the top 20.
The video for TDIMM was filmed in Victorville, California.
US Vice President Al Gore used Shania's "Rock This Country" to help launch
his 1999 presidential campaign. The song is a favourite of his wife, Tipper.
Shania was the first artist in history to have 8 top 20 country hits from
the same album.
Come On Over spent longer at the top of Billboard's Country Album charts
than any album in its history.
Shania is only the second person (the first was Cindy Crawford) to have
featured twice on the cover of FHM Magazine (May 1998 and September 1999
editions).
The 6th Annual Modern Screen Reader Ballot Awards voted Shania as Favourite
Female Vocalist. Shania also came 2nd to Billy Ray Cyrus in the All-round
Entertainer category.
In Style Magazine named Shania as the sexiest female musician in their
"Whats Sexy Now" reader poll. Shania received a massive 52% of the vote!
Shania was ranked the third best country artist of 1999 by VH1 in the
UK.
Over 12,500 Brits watched BBC1's late night broadcast of the Miami concert
special.
In CMT's Top 100 most requested songs of '99, Shania featured 10 times:
#91 HIH, #41 TDIMM, #22 WIM, #21 WBHYBBU, #16 LGMET, #13 YWML, #12 IOH,
#11 MIFLAW, #4 DBS, #3 AMOM.
The 1999 CMA Awards highlights show on the BBC was watched by 7.2 million
Brits.
Shania has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her record
album sales.
Shania`s 2nd CBS concert special brought in record viewing figures of
18.29 million viewers, more than either the Celine Dion (12.39m) or Ricky
Martin (11.68m) specials.
TDIMM was the most played song on British radio in 1999 with 46,371 plays.
Shania's rankings in the Top 10 of CMT's Top 2000 videos: #10 TDIMM, #8
IMO, #5 YSTO, #2 AMOM.
J.D. Blair (Shania's drummer) was voted Best Country Drummer in Drum!
Magazine's 2000 reader poll.
Shania was voted 46th in Ralph magazines '101 Sexiest Women in the World
2000' poll.
Shania was voted the #6 sexiest woman in the world in FHM Magazine's 2000
UK readers poll.
Shania was voted the #2 sexiest woman in the world in FHM Magazine's 2000
US readers poll.
When CMT Canada aired a show which showed the videos of its female inductees
into their Hall of Fame, Shania was #1 based on her COO album sales. Patsy
Cline came in second.
