An email discussion mailing list about Canadian country pop artist Shania Twain.

Biography: b. 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. Elsewhere the single 'Dance With The One That Brought You', a staple of Country MTV, directed by Sean Penn, provoked comparisons with Trisha Yearwood. The 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 Twain 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. Read more.