Singer Shania Twain was born August 28th, 1965 in Windsor, Ontario. Her birth name is Eilleen Regina Edwards. After Shania's parents divorced when she was two, her mother later remarried and Shania's stepfather legally adopted her and her sisters, thus changing their last name to Twain. The Twains battled with poverty and the family, which consisted of five children, had to go to a homeless shelter at one point. Shania began to help her family financially and, at the age of eight, she sang in bars to money.
In the 1980s, Twain worked the difficult job of reforestation with her father and learned to handle rugged environments. After graduating high school, Twain did all she could to pursue a career in music. She even cleaned her voice coach's house in exchange for lessons. In 1984, her efforts were rewarded when she was discovered by a Toronto DJ. He took Twain to Nashville where they recorded some demos. Twain's career was put on hold when her parents died in a car crash in 1987 and she returned home to take care of her family. In 1993, when her siblings were able to take care of themselves, Twain sent out demos and was signed by Mercury Nashville Records.
That is when she changed her named to Shania which means "on my way" in Ojibwa. Her first album established her as a rising country star and her subsequent albums earned Shania Twain international fame. She has won many awards for her music and is the 10th best selling artist with 33,591,000 albums sold up 2008, despite having only six studio albums.
Twain married Robert John Lange in 1993 and they had a son together in 2001. However, the couple split up in 2008.
