Shania Twain

Shania Twain was born in 1965 and grew up in a cold and remote mining town in Canada. She started singing at age 8, and was a local star in her teens. Here she is shown after winning favorite new country artist at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles in 1996.

Twain lost both her parents in a car accident when she was 21, just as her career was starting to take off. She became the legal guardian of her four younger siblings. Here she is shown holding her two Grammy Awards for best female country vocal performance and best country song backstage at the 1999 Grammy awards.

Here she talks to Britain's Prince Charles after she performed in London's Hyde Park in a benefit for The Prince's trust in 1999. Twain and her producer/husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange created a commercial country-pop crossover success with her second album, "The Woman in Me," released in 1995.

Here she performs at the 1999 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tenn. Her album 1997 "Come On Over" sold 34 million copies in two years and made her the biggest-selling female solo artist of all time.

Shania Twain has become successful by deliberately crossing the line from country star to pop sensation. Here she in performs the opening song at the 2002 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville.

Her sexy look helped her appeal just as much to the MTV generation as fans of Nashville. Here Twain smiles during an appearance at Toronto's 24-hour pop music channel Much Music, in 2002.

In 2000, Shania stopped touring, and all but disappeared from the public eye. Her son Eja was born in August 2001. In this 2003 photo, she announces her first concert in the U.K. in four years, and her only European date that year.

Singer Shania Twain hugs Josephine Okeke after playing basketball during a visit to Kids Cafe, a national program of America's Second Harvest, one of the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charities, in July, 2003. Twain started singing because her parents were poor, and sometimes ate mustard sandwiches at school.

Here, Twain and Stevie Wonder perform during the 2003 "VH1 Divas" concert in Las Vegas. Twain's husband Mutt Lang, famous for his work with everyone from AC/DC to Celine Dion, is also famous for his obsession with privacy.

After growing up singing in rundown bars in the middle of nowhere, Twain still stays true to her Canadian roots. Here she poses with Mounties beside with her star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto, 2003.

Twain signs autographs for fans after her performance on the NBC "Today" morning television in 2003. She crafted her 2002 album "Up!" from the Swiss home she shares with her husband.

Twain says she doen't regret any of her struggles in life. "I've had to learn how to survive. I've had to dig down into my own creativity and say, 'Ok, you can be better,'" she says. Here she performs in Anaheim, Calif. in late 2003.

Twain's sexy image helped her rise to the top. But in real life, she says she covers her midsection. "I never walk around with my midriff open, 'cause I just couldn't be bothered with worrying if my gut was hanging over or not," she says. Here she performs at the 2003 Billboard Music Awards.

She says she doesn't keep staying in shape very seriously. "I watch what I eat. I'm naturally very active, I walk a lot," says Shania. "My stage performance is two hours long. Singing is very physical. ...You gotta breathe and walk and move and run. I'm doing a million things at once, and that keeps me in enough shape for my shows." Here she is performing at the 2003 American Music Awards.

Twain says she considers herself a pop artist. "My roots are country, that's for sure," she says. "As long as Dolly Parton always likes my music, then I think I'm safe." Here she performs without costume malfunction during the halftime of Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego.

Twain cuts the ribbon at the official opening of the Shania Twain Centre, a museum about her, during a ceremony on November 2, 2004, in her home town of Timmins, Ontario. The center, located 500 miles north of Toronto, has been open for three years. However, Twain said she was unable to attend the opening earlier due to a pregnancy and touring commitments.