Although written by a writer from the Denver Post - it appeared in the Arizona Republic.


Twain at the top
George Holz
Shania Twain confidently conquers the pop and country music charts. She'll be in Phoenix on Friday.

Shania Twain

WHERE: America West Arena, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

ADMISSION: $45-$80. Available at all Ticketmaster locations, www.ticketmaster.com or (480) 784-4444.

DETAILS: (602) 379-7800 or www.americawestarena.com.
Ed Will
Denver Post
Dec. 18, 2003 12:00 AM

Singer Shania Twain seems to be everywhere.

The pop/country star this year appeared on several magazine covers, including those of Rolling Stone, Maxim, Glamour, Lifetime and Next.

In November alone, her TV credits included 60 Minutes, Intimate Portrait, Country Music Across America, CMT: 40 Greatest Fashion Statements, CMT News Special: Power List 2003 and The CMA Awards.

CBS is planning a two-hour movie of the week that traces Twain's rise from poverty in Canada to worldwide superstardom, and NBC recently aired the hourlong special Shania Twain Up! Close and Personal.

Up! is the title of Twain's latest CD, which, a year after its release, sits at No. 8 on Billboard's country album chart. Up! also serves as the name of one of the year's hottest tours -the Up! World Tour 2003 - which stops at America West Arena on Friday.

All this comes during a challenging time for female country artists, according to Rick Taylor, group managing editor for Country Music Media Group, which publishes the nation's top-selling country music magazine, Country Weekly.

"Post-9/11, country music sort of turned back a bit more traditional, and traditional usually means men," Taylor said. "In other words, traditional means less pop. . . . So a lot of females are not achieving the same level of success that they did before."

Twain's pop sound, however, probably helped her through the country downturn, because she took over mainstream pop in 1999 with the release of Come on Over.

It has sold more copies in the United States, 14.8 million, than any other single album released since 1991, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

"It just absolutely shook the nation," Taylor said.

Actually, it shook the world. Worldwide sales have passed the 34 million mark, tour press manager Jill Boles said.

Twain's husband, "Mutt" Lang, is one of the most successful rock/pop producers of all time. He has guided her career since the second CD, 1995's The Woman in Me.

"She clearly crossed over, and truly, if you look back, all the female stars followed in her path," Taylor said.