Shania Twain was born as Eilleen Regina Edwards in 1965, the middle
of three daughters to Clarence and Sharon Edwards (sister Jill is
two years older and Carrie-Ann three years younger). When she was
six, her mother remarried Jerry Twain, a full-blooded Ojibwa native
from Timmins, Ontario, who adopted her as his own, making her 50%
native in the eyes of the law. She started out singing in bars as a
child after hours, and at 13, appeared on "The Tommy Hunter Show".
At 22, her parents were killed in an accident, and she became the
legal guardian of her half-brothers (Mark, then 13, and Darryl,
then 14) and sister, putting her musical career on hold to raise
her family. In 1991 she changed her name to Shania (meaning "I'm on
my way" in Ojibwa, it was the name of a co-worker), and signed a
contract with Mercury Nashville that same year. Her first album
went by without notice, but her second album (produced with Mutt
Lange, who she wed in 1993) broke world records with it's ast!
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– She was listed in People Weeklys Most Intriguing People list. (December 25, 1995/January 1, 1996 issue)
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– She is voted sexiest vegetarian alive by PETA
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– (12 August 2001) She gave birth to first child, a son, Eja (pronounced Asia).
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– Name Shania means I'm on my way in Ojibwa.
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– She has scored six No. 1 hits on Billboard magazine's country singles chart. Her biggest hit is the country-pop smash You're Still the One (1998, No. 1 country, No. 2 Hot 100).
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– Another of her biggest hits, 1997's Love Gets Me Every Time, became the first country No. 1 released by a female country artist to spend five weeks atop Billboard's country chart since Dolly Parton's 1977 hit Here You Come Again.
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– She is one of only four native Canadians to reach the peak of Billboard's country chart since its inception in 1944. The other top hitmakers are Hank Snow (who first turned the trick in 1950), Anne Murray (first No. 1 hit in 1974), and Terri Clark (first and only No. 1 hit in 1999).
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