The “Queen of country pop”, no female country artist has ever sold more records.  Her roots are downright Dickensian. Born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Ontario, Canada, as a young child she was regularly dragged by her parents to bars and pushed to sing to help pay the struggling family’s bills. After high school, aiming toward a career in music, she was called back home with the news that her parents had died in a car crash; she was to be her younger siblings’ surrogate mom for several years. As they grew old enough to fend for themselves, Shania Twain, as she now called herself, recorded a demo that won her a contract with Mercury Nashville. While her debut LP was not a hit, rock producer Mutt Lange (AC/DC and Def Leppard, among others) took notice. Soon they were writing together and by late ’93 were married.

            In early 1995 the fruits of their labor paid dividends. The Woman in Me became a giant, country-pop crossover success, with estimated worldwide sales of 20 million. The album featured four country #1 singles including the celebrated “Any Man of Mine”.  Working again closely with Lange and shrewdly using the resources of music videos, TV appearances, and live shows, Twain’s follow-up LP, Come On Over, released late in ’97, proved to be an even bigger hit with sales of up to 40 million. Among female artists, only Whitney Houston has had a bigger selling album with her soundtrack LP, The Bodyguard. The romantic “You’re Still the One” and the rocking feminist anthem “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” are the two tracks that have generated the most attention.

            Twain continued to find success into the 21st century and then virtually disappeared for a number of years as she struggled with the loss of her marriage and her voice (after a serious bout with Lyme disease); recently she overcame a life-threatening case of Covid. She seems, now, to be fully back, having released two albums since 2017 including the brand new Queen of Me, and regularly performing live once again.  

            Her legacy seems secure; only Garth Brooks, among country artists, has sold more total records, and artists as diverse as Carrie Underwood, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift have acknowledged their debt to Twain. 

            –Steve Williams (10/12/23) Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #53