Posted on Thu, May. 13, 2004

Not just a pretty face
The laid-back, upbeat Shania Twain balances motherhood with superstardom.
By Carol Tannehill
of The News-Sentinel

Shania Twain is one of those women you'd love to hate, but can't.

How dare she parade around the stage wearing neoprene? Why is she always smiling? Sure, she sings about bad hair days and pimples, but have we ever actually seen her endure either? Oh, yeah, and don't forget how capably she manages marriage and motherhood along with the world tours and record deals.

It would be easy to hate her -- if only she weren't so darn likable.

The country-singer-turned-international star brings her upbeat attitude -- and her Up! Tour -- to Memorial Coliseum on Friday for her first Fort Wayne concert.

OK, so she's got red-hot music career and a 46-room chateau in Switzerland, that don't impress her much. Just 17 years ago, at age 21, the Ontario-born singer was struggling to support three teenage siblings after their mother and stepfather were killed in a car crash. She sang for their suppers -- and for their electric bills and mortgage payments, too.

Far from being a diva, grounded superstar Twain chooses jeans and sweaters over couture fashion, hockey games and hiking over club hopping, homemade vegetarian soup and hot chocolate over haute cuisine. And her 500-acre Alpine getaway really is just a place to get away.

"The people there do tend to treat you like you're nothing special. That's exactly what I need when I'm at home," she said in a 2003 interview with Next magazine, a magazine for gay New Yorkers.

Twain, 38, made the same point in a People magazine article the year before: "When people try to treat me like a star, it makes me withdraw. Ten years from now, if I'm still in the limelight, I just can't imagine it."

She gained this renewed sense of perspective after she and her husband, record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, escaped the American music scene in 2000 and retreated to quiet Tour-de-Peiz, Switzerland, to recharge, reinvigorate their seven-year-old marriage and write and record music. The results -- in addition to her new attitude -- were son Eja (pronounced "Asia"), now 2, and the 19-song CD Up!, which was released in November 2002.

Twain's long awaited follow-up to 1997's "Come On Over" and 1995's "The Woman in Me," has already yielded some of the hottest singles on country and pop radio -- "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!," "Up!," "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" and "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing" and "Forever and For Always." "Forever," in fact, was honored by fan voters this month as the Flame Worthy Female Video of the Year.

"We wanted to put something together that was bigger and better," Twain said in a media bio, "and the whole thing is so much bigger and better than anything I've done in the past."

Twain and Lange borrowed musical influences from all over the world to create an international album that goes well beyond her country roots. They recorded Indian musicians in Mumbai, India, for example, American musicians in the Caribbean, a 40-piece orchestra in Ireland and other musicians in Italy.

"We literally hopped from city to city songwriting, including Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Provence and the Grenadine Islands. This music came together in smaller pieces over a longer period of time," she said.

Twain, in fact, recorded three different versions of "Up!" CD -- a green disc with a decidedly Nashville sound and the red disc in pop style are included in the same package. A blue disc, intended for the international market, blends Latin, Asian and Indian influences.

But Twain also enjoys taking the show -- with family in tow, of course -- on the road.

"I have a lot of fun with the touring, it's the biggest reward. I can see on (the audience members') faces what the songs mean to them," she said.

Fired up!
* What: Shania Twain's Up! Tour

* When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

* Where: Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Ave.

* Tickets: $46, $66 and $81 at the coliseum ticket office and all

Ticketmaster outlets, at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at 424-1811.
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© 2004 News Sentinel and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwa...ent/8658470.htm

- Tommy