Shania Twain has an impressive career spanning decades as the reigning “Queen of Country Pop.” When her career took off in the ’90s, Nashville had never seen a woman quite like her. With her (at-the-time) provocative outfits and albums with themes of taking control of one’s life and empowering, witty, and sometimes self-deprecating lyrics, Twain took the country music scene by storm.
Her breakthrough album, Come On Over, turns 25 this year, and the singer recently released a documentary with Netflix all while gearing up to release a new album. What better way to celebrate her many accomplishments than by introducing her to readers who might not have had the pleasure of listening to any of her great music?
Shania Twain’s real name and age
Shania Twain was born on Aug 28, 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, making her 57 as of 2022. Her birth name was Eilleen Regina Edwards, but when her mother remarried, her new husband adopted her children from her previous marriage and legally changed their last names to his. Thus Shania Twain was born (well, the Shania part will come later).
Twain had a rough childhood and early adulthood. Her parents struggled to make ends meet, and their marriage was rocky to the point that she would encourage her mother to leave. At the young age of 8, she started performing at bars in an attempt to help her family financially. She would continue performing, notably in the cover band, Flirt, until she went to Nashville to seriously pursue a career as a country singer. Her singing plans came to a halt when her parents passed away in a car crash in 1987, leaving Twain to move back to Canada to take care of her younger siblings. The singer would perform at a local resort to provide for them.
Once her siblings had grown, Twain returned to Nashville after signing with Mercury Nashville Records. She changed her name to Shania and released her first album, Shania Twain, in 1993. The album was a critical success but not a commercial one (though it would eventually go Platinum in 1999 due to Twain’s massive success with her other work). Still, the album had two somewhat successful singles. In her 2011 memoir, From This Moment On, Twain shared that she was not satisfied creatively with this first album and barely had any artistic input, only co-writing one song, “God Ain’t Gonna Getcha for That.”
Shania Twain’s net worth and relationship status
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Twain’s net worth at a cool $400 Million, and the high number makes sense given her multitude of self-composed hits. It’s all the more impressive considering Twain’s major successes came relatively later in life for a pop star. Twain’s big breakthrough would come with the release of her second album The Woman in Me in 1995 at the age of 30. The album was written and produced entirely by Twain and her then-husband, producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who had previously produced for bands like AC/DC and Def Leppard.
Twain met Lange in June 1993 and were married in December of that year. The two continued to work together on Twain’s music, and the majority of her hits are created by the duo. After The Woman in Me, Twain released Come On Over in 1997 and was a massive crossover success. Twelve of the album’s 16 tracks were released as singles, and the album would peak at number two on the Billboard 200 charts. It would keep charting for two years after its release, establishing her as not just a popular country singer but an artist with global appeal. Come On Over would sell 40 million copies internationally, and it’s still the highest-selling album by a female artist to this day.
After a much-deserved two-year rest and after the birth of their son Eja, Twain and Lange returned to the studio to work on her fourth album, Up. The album debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 and was a massive hit all over Europe as well, spawning hit singles “Forever and For Always,” “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!,” and “Ka-Ching!” After the success of Up, she released a compilation album in 2004 and then took a hiatus due to health complications after contracting Lyme disease.
In 2008, the couple announced their separation and finalized their divorce in 2010. Reportedly, the divorce was a result of Lange’s affair with Twain’s best friend at the time. In a strange twist, Twain would find comfort in her best friend’s ex-husband after the affair, and the two married in 2011. Twain and her husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, celebrated 10 years of marriage in 2021.
Twain released her long-awaited follow-up album, Now, in 2016 and published her autobiography in 2011. Following the success of her Netflix documentary, Not Just a Girl, Twain will be releasing her sixth album sometime in 2023. The lead single, “Waking Up Dreaming,” is available on streaming services now.