'''Shania Twain''', '''OC''' (born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has enjoyed popular if not critical success in the country and pop music genres. Her third album ''
Come on Over'' is the biggest-selling album of all time by a female artist, and the seventh biggest selling album in music history, and she is the only female artist to have three albums certified Diamond by the RIAA. Twain is also the recipient of numerous awards, including five Grammy awards and over forty BMI Songwriter awards. She is married to legendary Rock producer Mutt Lange, and they have a son, Eja. Shania and her family currently reside between Switzerland and New Zealand.
Early years
Born '''Eilleen Regina Edwards''', in Windsor, Ontario, on 28th August 1965, to Sharon and Clarence Edwards, her name was changed to '''Eilleen Twain''' after her parents separated when she was two, and her mother remarried to Jerry Twain, a full-blooded member of the Ojibwa First Nation. She grew up in Timmins, Ontario.
Eilleen Twain had a hard childhood; with her parents not earning much, Twain was sent out to sing in numerous clubs and bars to help bring the money in, encouraged and mentored by her mother, Sharon, who often fell into bouts of depression over the lack of food in the household.
At the age of 13, Eilleen Twain was invited to perform on CBC television's ''Tommy Hunter Show''. During high school in Timmins, she was the vocalist for a local band "Longshot" which covered Top 40 music. When her mother and adoptive father died in a car accident on November 1, 1987, Eilleen put her musical career on hold, and was forced to take care of the family. She took her two younger brothers, Mark and Darryl, and sister Carrie-Ann to Huntsville, Ontario, where she supported the family by performing at a local resort (Deerhurst resort). In 1991, after an entertainment lawyer (Dick Frank) from Nashville, Tennessee heard her act, she was invited to record a demo tape.
In 1991, when she signed her first recording contract with Richard Frank of Mercury Nashville Records, she changed her name to '''Shania''' (pronounced shu-NYE-uh) which is an Ojibwa word meaning "I'm on my way". Twain's embrace of her adoptive Ojibwa heritage has at times been reported to be controversial among Canadian First Nations, with some disagreement about whether a non-Ojibwa adopted by an Ojibwa parent can be considered a true Ojibwa. Shania Twain responded to such criticism by saying, "I don't know how much Indian blood I actually have in me, but as the adopted daughter of my father Jerry, I became registered as a
