Shania Twain was born Eileen Edwards in Canada on Aug. 28, 1965, the second oldest of five siblings. She was raised in Timmins, Ontario, about 500 miles due north of Toronto, where her stepfather, an Ojibway Indian named Jerry Twain, and mother, Sharon, had both been raised.

But inspite of all this problems her mother was determined to make Shania a star for which she worked very hard. At the age of 8 she was singing in parents favorite country songs in old people's homes and bars (after hours when they had stopped serving liquer). Soon she was even appearing on TV shows.

Music was Shania's life, she would skip classes in school to write songs in the music room and after graduation she played in bar bands that played anything from pop to rock.

In 1987, at age 21, Twain lost her parents in an automobile accident. She took on the responsibility of raising her three younger siblings. She managed to keep the household going with a job at Ontario's Deerhurst Resort, which not only provided for her new family responsibilities but also gave her an education in every aspect of theatrical performance, from musical comedy to Andrew Lloyd Webber to Gershwin.

Shedding her real name, Eileen, she adopted the Ojibway name of Shania, meaning "I'm on my way." Twain recorded a demo tape of original music and set her sights on Nashville.

Her biggest hit is the country-pop smash "You're Still the One" (1998, No. 1 country, No. 2 Hot 100); the song won Grammy Awards for Best Country song and Best Female Country Performance. 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.

She lives in Switzerland with her husband Mutt Lange, loves horses and her dogs. She tries to keep her life as normal as possible and dislikes being treated like a star.