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Shania Twain facts: Country singer's age, husband, children and real name revealed
26 July 2022, 13:13 | Updated: 22 February 2023, 15:58
Shania Twain is one of country (and all of music for that matter)'s biggest ever stars.
Canadian singer Shania has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
She even has the title 'Queen of Country Pop'.
Here are all the important facts about the pop legend:
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How old is Shania Twain and where is she from?
Country songstress and Grammy Award-winning artist, Shania Twain, was born in Windsor, Canada on August 28, 1965.
She celebrated her 56th birthday in 2021.
The singer was raised in Timmins, Ontario alongside her two sisters Jill and Carrie Ann.
Shania Twain Performs At Staples Center on August 3, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Picture: Getty Her parents divorced when Shania was two-years-old and her mother married Jerry Twain who officially adopted the three girls before having two boys of their own, Mark and Darryl.
Shania has spoken about having a difficult childhood. Her parents were poor, and food was often scarce in their house.
"He just had issues – and, at the time I was looking at this man as somebody who was not being himself,” Shania said. “It was like he was two people.”
Her mother and stepfather's marriage was rocky, and from a young age she witnessed violence between the pair. Shania was also subject to emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of stepfather Jerry.
When Shania was 21 years old her mother and stepfather were tragically killed in a car accident, leaving the devastated Shania to step in and care for her three siblings on her own.
"It was a very, very difficult time," she later said: "But it was also a turning point in my life that, I think, matured me, brought me up to where I should have been in the first place at that age."
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What is Shania Twain's real name?
Shania Twain's name may now be famous all over the world, but the name she was born with was very different to the one we know today.
The name on the singer's birth certificate is Eilleen Regina Edwards and was changed to Eilleen Regina Twain when Jerry adopted her in 1969.
Mercury Nashville, who she signed with in 1992, didn't think Eilleen Twain flowed well enough as a stage name, so she changed it.
In a tribute to her Ojibwa Native American step-father Jerry Twain, Shania means "I'm on my way" in Ojibwa.
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Is Shania Twain married and does she have children?
Shania Twain is now married to her second husband, Frederic Thiebaud, after her first marriage ended in a messy divorce.
Her first husband, producer Robert 'Mutt' Lange, had an affair with Shania's best friend and PA Marie-Ann Thiebaud, and Shania surprised herself by finding love in the arms of her ex-best friend's husband, Frederic!
It's an unusual situation to get together after your respective spouses have an affair, but to Shania it's the silver lining to a horrible situation.
“Frederic Nicolas Thiebaud has been a true gift to me as a compassionate, understanding friend and over time, an amazing love has blossomed from this precious friendship,” Shania wrote about their relationship.
The pair got married on January 1, 2011 in Rincón, Puerto Rico and the pair are parents to Joanna, from Frederic's first marriage.
The couple live in Corseaux, Switzerland overlooking Lake Geneva and Shania's husband couldn't be more removed from the music industry; the 49-year-old Swiss native is a business executive for Nestle chocolate.
With Mutt Lange, Shania has one son Eja (pronounced 'Asia'), born on August 12, 2001.
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Which are Shania Twain's most famous songs?
Shania Twain has gone down in history as the best selling country female country singer of all time.
With over 85 million records sold worldwide, she's also counted among the best selling singers in history alongside Elton John, Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Country music star Shania Twain poses with her two. Picture: Getty Alongside 5 Grammy Awards, Shania has won 27 BMI Songwriter Awards, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Her most famous songs include 'You're Still the One', 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman', 'That Don't Impress Me Much' and 'From This Moment On' all from her smash hit 1997 album, Come On Over.
