As one of the most famous women in music history, Shania Twain has earned her standing among fans. She is the top selling female artist in history with over 41 million albums sold in the United States and more sales in 32 other countries. Her songs and attitude have made their mark in both country and pop music.

Shania was born Eileen Edwards on August 28, 1965 in Timmins, Ontario. Despite the fact that her mother and stepfather, Ojibway Indian, Jerry Twain, struggled with money at times, there was always enough music to go around. Shania soon took up the guitar and began to sing. She was talented enough that her parents booked her at every opening they could find: TV studios, community centers, and senior citizens’ homes. At the age of eight, she performed in a local club after midnight.

Unfortunately, in 1987, Shania lost both of her parents in an automobile accident, giving her the responsibility of taking care of her three younger siblings. The Deerhurst Resort in Ontario gave her a job that not only helped her care for her family, but taught her about performing. Three years later, when her brothers were old enough to care for themselves, Shania set off to start her career as a singer and changed her name from Eileen to the Ojibway name Shania, meaning “I’m on my way.”

With a demo tape of original work, Shania was signed with Mercury Records and put out her first album in 1993. A few songs from the album reached the No. 55 spot on the country charts, but once she met Robert John “Mutt” Lange, her career truly took off.

After six months of writing songs together, Shania and Robert married and then traveled throughout the United States, Canada, England, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean developing her next album. The end product was The Woman in Me, with “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under,” “Any Man of Mine,” “(If You’re Not in It for Love) I’m Outta Here!,” and “No One Needs to Know.” The album sold over 18 million copies and the Academy of Country Music named it the album of the year in 1995.

Two years later, in 1997, Shania released her third album, Come on Over, which was also a success, selling over 11 million copies. The album contained three number one country hits, “Honey I’m Home,” “Love Gets Me Every Time,” and “You’re Still the One,” which also ranked No. 2 on the pop charts. The song, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” was not only a Top 5 country single, but also got Shania a contract with makeup company, Revlon.

In 1998, Shania embarked on her first major tour which brought on a series of awards. She won the 1999 ACM and Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year awards, two Grammy awards for best country song, “Come on Over” and “You’re Still the One,” and two Grammy awards for best female vocal performance, “”Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “You’re Still the One.” Shania also earned awards from the Canadian Country Music Awards, Canada’s JUNO Awards, and the American Music Awards, along with being recognized as both the 1999 country and pop songwriter of the year by Broadcast Music, Inc. while “You’re Still the One” was named the country and pop song of the year.

By the end of the year and the long line of awards, Shania decided to break from her success and retreat to Switzerland with her husband. In 2001 her first child, Eja, was born as the two were preparing for her next album, Up!. Up!, with a country and a pop version of each song, featured her hit, “I’m Gonna Getcha Good.” She followed with her Up! tour in 2004 and the Shania Twain Greatest Hits album.