Support Shania's Cause!
Support Shania's Cause!

 

Shania Twain North American Online Fan Club Chat with Robin Eggar! 
TRANSCRIPTS OF CHAT WITH ROBIN EGGAR AT STNAOFC

http://www.shaniafans.com/
On December 15, 2001 Mr. Robin Eggar, the British author of THE Shania Biography had a chat with Shania fans! Here below is the short, edited version of the transcripts of that one hour discussion! Enjoy!

Robin-Eggar:  okay got it, right who's first
Roger:  Robin: dare I ask how sales are going?
Robin-Eggar: No !  not too hot in the UK as the market has been screwed by 9/11. Interest is high in Canada and Australia  but I think we'll be pushing it again once the album comes out…Hopefully that will secure a US release as well
Roger: if sales go well, and I agree they will pick up, do you hope to do  second edition some day?
Robin-Eggar: I will update for  UK paperback edition but also I may well do quite a lot for a US publication - I keep finding things I want to change
FV: what type of things for instance?
Robin-Eggar: more literary than factual, and I'd want to reorganise the final part of the book, more stuff about Eja.
FV: Robin: planning a new possible interview with Shania when the new album will be out?
Robin-Eggar: yes I am hoping that she will do something quiet in depth - which will obviously help with any future editions
Roger: I guess you still haven't had a reaction from Shania herself to your book?
Robin-Eggar: Nothing from her  but I didn't really expect one. JLM have been pretty complimentary and so have a few people who know her in Canada
FV: Robin: are you going to do any promotion tour in Canada? 
Robin-Eggar: well I was hoping too, especially to Calgary as I told the publishers it was the C&W capital of Canada ( really I wanted to go skiing) but maybe next year
FV: lol..we hear you!
FV: Robin: any thought about a biography of MUTT?
Robin-Eggar: well Mutt is a very interesting person and I learned some very interesting things about him, but I guess it would be down to  a publisher ...
Bryce: Robin: Have you met Mutt?
Robin-Eggar: I think so ... way back in 1979/80 when I managed a record producer called Steve Lillywhite Mutt always used to get the most commercial projects from Virgin.  I think I met him at a party and told him that. I was a bit drunk and he of course wasn't but he is a total gentleman
FV: lol
Robin-Eggar: I have friends who know him and it was one of the weirdest things in my research nobody said a bad word about him which naturally made me suspicious
FV: as far as I can see...he is the greatest guy on earth..no wonder Shania married him! ..:)
<Bryce_> LOL@FV
Roger: Robin: what about all those stories bout the lengths to which Mutt will go to avoid publicity?
Robin-Eggar: I wouldn't go that far.  he is a controller but he does it with such immense charm ...and I wouldn't want to be married to him if I wasn't a musician he was working with
Robin-Eggar: he doesn't go out of his way but he has been known to talk to people on the phone if they call. I guess he doesn't see the point which is pretty refreshing
Roger: is it true Mutt bought up the rights to photos of him so they wouldn't appear?
FV: the more I learn about him, the more I like him...:)
Robin-Eggar: I've heard that but nobody confirmed it
FV: My question...between Shania and Mutt, which one has the most influence on creating the songs/albums?
Robin-Eggar:  Hard one.  I view Mutt as the facilitator . on WIM he showed Shania how to look at her songs in a new way, he made her recut them polish them and sharpen up the impact
Roger:  I have always thought that Mutt is to Shania what an editor is to a writer
FV: Does Mutt work better with Shania than with other artists? what do you think? Is it easier to work with your wife or not?
Robin-Eggar: Now its hard to say I think she writes more but he's like the gem cutter.  Also her strength has always been words 
Robin-Eggar:  I think his work with Shania was the distillation of everything he had done with Bryan A, Bolton and Def Leppard and because Shania trusted him absolutely he was able to take it to a new level. Also it was exciting for him to try a new medium - country.
Robin-Eggar:  As to working with your wife well I find it great for a few hours  but longer ...well
FV: the perfect match at the perfect time..Luke Lewis was blessed by that! :) LOL
Bryce: us too
FV: Oh yeah Bryce! :) 
Roger:  Robin: any idea of the balance between country and pop in the next CD?
FV: Robin: what type of relationship does Shania have with Mercury Nashville? Luke officially always supported Shania but he always does that when the sales are good..
Robin-Eggar:  I didn't like what he did with the Corrs - very sub Shania 
FV: Robin: still the Corrs sold a lot! 
Robin-Eggar: New album I haven't heard much though Paul Leim told me in Feb that he hadn't used any Nashville musos and that the drums were all machines I didn't like the  sound of that 
FV: fiddles?
Robin-Eggar: Oh Luke was essential in going into bat for Shania ( sound like you haven't read the book ;-)
FV: Robin: it's on its way! shipped on Thursday..:)
Bryce: lol
Robin-Eggar: Paul is the drummer and session leader on COO
FV: ROBIN: so where was this new album recorded? completely in Switzerland?
Robin-Eggar:  I think the new album will be a straight pop record with a few genre twists
Roger: Robin: that's what I suspect too
Robin-Eggar: Mutt has a studio there  ..
FV: Robin: yeah I know...but for the last two albums too..they went also to other places to record the albums..
Robin-Eggar: For COO they did the demos in NY but his studio wasn't fully up to speed
FrV: Cool!..so they invited the musicians there?
Robin-Eggar: I'm sure I would have heard if they had recorded in Nashville - and so would you
FV: I thought maybe in Canada again..
FV: Robin: what do you think of Shania's song for Britney Spears? will Shania be soon a songwriter only?
Robin-Eggar:  I thought it wasn't good enough to be on an ST album.  Britney is on Jive who are owned by Zomba who manage and publish Mutt...nuff said
Robin-Eggar:  I think Shania would like to become a songwriter but I also wonder if it wouldn't bore her
FV: Robin: will Shania be promoting less now that she has a family?
Robin-Eggar: I reckon , wouldn't u ?
FV: I would have to say yes....but then I'll miss her even more!!!! 
Roger: Robin: before our time is up I know you didn't have to put up with us rabid fans...Thank You for joining us
FV: Roger is saying that only for the DONUTS...LOL
Roger LOL
FV: Robin: any new project in the future? another biography? 
Robin-Eggar: that's ok its been fun and  interesting watching  some of u work yourself into a lather, still it got me going too
Cbspock: hehehe
Bryce:  We are dedicated to put it mildly.
GisaTwain: [Robin-Eggar] do you think she's gonna get more inspiration with her kid?
Robin-Eggar:  I'm talking a rest from books for a while as I went straight into Shania from Tom Jones
Cbspock: Robin:What fascinated you the most about Shania?
Robin-Eggar: Actually I am hoping to land a big interview with Britney soon so i can ask her that ?
FV:  Robin: as far as I understand Britney never met Shania...
Robin-Eggar:  Rags to riches ( and she's cute too) In the First World we don't have so many people who come from really impoverished families. Hell you've all been to Timmins who wouldn't want to leave, just most don't or don't make it
Robin-Eggar: FV I know I was joking about the song
FV: lol
Cbspock: robin: Why did you decide to write a book about Shania?
Robin-Eggar:  I suggested a couple of ideas to a publishers they wanted Shania.  I knew it was a go do story and I wanted to find out how good, u don't get that in a magazine
Robin-Eggar:  I think Eja will inspire Shania but in a different way she will want to give him the chidlhood she never had.  In the long term it might inspire her to write darker sings to explain where she came from. I'd like to see those
Cbspock: robin: is there going to be a USA release of the book?
Robin-Eggar: you can never tell how an artist will react to having a child.  Often they get very mushy for a couple of years until he goes to school then its business as usual ;-)
FV: hummm a darker side of Shania...I wonder..
Roger:  FV: can this conversation be saved so others in the club can see it?
FV: yeah.. 
FV: 4ever: ask your question!
Shania4ever: hey Robin Eggar :)
Shania4ever:  I'm shy LOL
Robin-Eggar: so am i 
Robin-Eggar:  now get on with it
FV: 4ever: just ask..he does not bite..;)
Shania4ever: haha FV
Shania4ever:  well... let's see..
Shania4ever: first Robin-Eggar I wanna say sorry for my bad english! :)
Robin-Eggar: that's ok as u can all see I don't type very well
FV: Robin: I am shocked for a journalist..LOL
Shania4ever: hey Robin-Eggar do you know if there's any chance for me to get your Shania’s book over here in Brazil?
Robin-Eggar: hell when i started it was two fingers leaving room for the cigs and whiskey
FV: Robin: ever been to a Shania concert yourself?
FV: lol@Robin..
Robin-Eggar:  I don't know about Brazil yet but when I hear about translations etc I'll let teh fan clubs know
Robin-Eggar: Since about 96 when I first heard WIM which did nothing in the UK, but as I like my country music witha twist and even a blind man can see Shania is a babe I kept pushing her record company for info.  Then a UK PR company I know well got the account and teh rest is history
Cbspock:  robin: In your research was there ever a time when Shania was going to leave Mercury?
Robin-Eggar:  I think Mercury were pretty close to dropping her. She and Harold Shedd didn't get on at all well
FV: Robin: it sounds like Shania and Mutt have a great freedom of decision regarding the albums--that's unheard in the business, isn't it?
Robin-Eggar: With WIM Mercury had some input, with COO they turned up for the playback with the next one they will have bene planning the marketing campaign.
FV: so basically..they simply promote it...but no decisions on the type of music? how can they promote it if they do not know how it sounds like?
Robin-Eggar: Mutt has been looked after by Clive Calder for 30 years, he is one of the biggest players in the business. He and Mutt call the shots
Cbspock: I guess if it ticks Nashville off, it will be good
Cbspock: robin:what do you think of country music in general?
Roger:  if there's no country at all in the new CD, Nashville have a problem
Robin-Eggar:  FV a new ST album will be treated like a Madonna or Jackson album or a Tom Cruise movie.  the name is the primary sell. unless its like Alanis Morrisette's follow up to Jagged Little Pill which sold three copies all to her mum
FV:  Robin: I saw myself that Universal France and Germany did everything they could to promote Shania ..but she had already stopped promoting actively..but they gave everything to promote COO! :)
Robin-Eggar:  FV they had to in France. Being French they broke her on the last single  not the first.  The Germans naturally were very efficient and broke her after the UK
Robin-Eggar: I think the major danger for the next album is that Universal is gagging for it so much they could over promote it like Sony did with the new Jackson. COO broke mega  in the UK 18 months after it came out.
Cbspock:  I think that is wrong..from interviews..she likes performing..its being away from home she hates
GisaTwain: yeah cbspock
Shania4ever: yeah I agree with cbspock
FrV: Robin: hummmm....that's true..but Jackson did not have Shania and Mutt's songs..;) LOL
Cbspock: lol@fv
Robin-Eggar:  Some singers live to perform like Tom Jones. Others are more comfortbale in the studio.  Shania is the latter

Thanks Robin Eggar for the Chat!  Dec. 15, 2001.