If theBBCcalls you the “Queen of Pop,” you must be doing something right.
As far as we’re concerned,Shania Twainhas definitely earned the title.
Her third album became thebest-selling albumby a woman in 2000.
Overall, she is thebest-sellingfemale country singer, having sold over 100 million records.
Over the years, the star has earned fiveGrammyawards (along with 18 nominations).
But Twain wasn’t always royalty in the music industry.
And even when she did find fame, it wasn’t always an easy ride for the singer.
Want to learn more about the ups and downs of this superstar’s rise to the top?
Here is the stunning transformation of Shania Twain.
As Twain toldRolling Stone, things weren’t always easy for the family.
Even though her childhood was undeniably difficult, Twain realizes that it made her who she is.
As she toldThe Globe and Mailin 2002, “I love where I’m from.
And I love everything about my history.
And I wouldn’t change it.
And I actually appreciate the hardships that I went through.”
I just knew I loved music," she toldThe Sun.
When she was just 3, Twain began singing.
According toBiography, Twain even started writing her own music at the age of 10.
But for Twain, singing was never about making money.
Instead, it was about finding a means of escape.
And it really works.
It’s therapeutic," she toldThe Guardian.
“A lot of kids play with dolls and I played with words and sounds.”
As the singer toldABC News, her stepfather was also abusive to her and her mother.
The fear and unpredictability of her stepfather’s outbursts was “overwhelming” and terrifying.
Even though Twain’s stepfather was physically and verbally abusive, Twain still thought of him as her father.
“It was the Jekyll and Hyde in him that was the greatest torture,” Twain said.
So I’m still left confused.
I’m baffled by all of that, I really am."
Twain spent this time touring around Southern Ontario singing and taking voice lessons from a coach called Ian Garrett.
To pay for her lessons, she would clean his house.
“He’d feed me once in a while, too,” she told herbiographer.
She also spent some time singing inNashville.
Twain spent several more years trying to make a career for herself.
She sang inclubs in Torontoand even opened a show for Bernadette Peters.
However, in 1987, her career plans were all put on hold.
It was understandably what Twain called a “major turning point in [her] life.”
As she toldThe Big Issue, it made her rethink her music career.
She realized that all of her friends had gone to college and she may never have the chance.
In the end, it made her more productive and determined than ever.
“I had a lot of responsibility,” she told theIndependent.
“I had to grow up fast.”
She began singing in a cabaret at The Deerhurst Resort in the small town of Hunstsville, Ontario.
It was during this period that Twain got her first real big break.
She recorded her first self-titled album in 1993.
They also developed a romantic relationship, and that same year, the two were married.
Twain took more of a leading role in her music on this album, letting her true personality show.
Luckily, she didn’t listen to them.
“It was an incredible learning time in my life,” she recalls.
Clearly, her risky decision to take a leading role in the album paid off.
As Twain put it, the album is “probably the biggest achievement of my career.”
For her, becoming a mother was an even bigger turning point than her rise to fame.
To have her son, Twain decided to take some time off of her busy singing career.
She and her husband retreated from her ever-growing fame and moved to a quiet home in Switzerland.
Motherhood also changed her as a person.
“I feel much stronger.
Motherhood has changed me more than anything else,” she toldFHM.
“I feel happy and completely in control.
Somehow my body just feels more mature.
I just feel more of a woman.”
As for raising Eja, Twain was careful to avoid spoiling him.
It seems like Twain’s approach worked well.
The star lost her voice and was forced to take time off.
At first, Twain thought she might just be tired or burnt out (viaPeople).
But eventually, it became clear that it was a far more serious issue.
“There was a long time I thought I would never sing again,” Twain toldCNN.
Finally, after about seven years, the doctors finally diagnosed her vocal cord damage because of Lyme disease.
Apparently, she’d caught it from a tick while horseback riding in Virginia.
Twain underwent multiple surgeries along with vocalphysiotherapyso that she could finally perform again.
Talk about determination and perseverance!
“She is in absolute, total shock.”
Twain and Lange divorced in 2009.
As Twain later toldABC News, she had already been feeling distant from Lange prior to the affair.
In the fallout of the divorce, she developed dysphonia.
“The muscles literally constrict the voice box and prevent air from flowing properly,” Twain explained.
Over time, the pair became closer.
As Twain herself put it toAARP, it was “twisted, but so beautifully twisted.”
Twain explained toThe Guardianthat their children realized they were falling in love before they did.
I don’t think Mutt ever knew me.
That’s the difference."
We love to hear it!
Writing the album wasn’t always an easy process.
In fact, as she toldUDiscoverMusic, it was a bit like going to the gym.
The album was called “Now” and marked a new period in her career.
For one thing, she debuted a whole new voice as a result of her surgery.
“It’s given me more room to play, to be honest,” she said toToday.
“I have gravel.”
“I’ve found a new voice,” she said.
“And I like it.”
It seems that Twain had discovered yet another talent.
For Twain, acting offers a brand new learning experience.
“It’s a whole renewal a renewed energy through this performance platform,” she toldWonderwall.com.
And it sounds like she has only just started experimenting with this side of her career.
“So I’m very excited about it.”
So, who knows, maybe Twain has a future in film!
However, once the virus hit, she was forced to slow down.
In some ways, the slower pace of life was a blessing in disguise.
“It’s difficult, of course.
For one thing, it gave her more time with her family.
It also gave her more time to focus on writing music.
She even got a chance to spend some quality time doing “home-life things” namely, making pancakes!
As Twain would probably put it, she can “only go up from here!”
