Cross Over Queen



Shania Twain is proof that you don't have to be from Texas to say "Yee-Harr!" with conviction.

Meet Eilleen, a 33 year-old country music fan who is sick and tired of all these slick Shania Twain clones. Shaking her head, she asks how the next Willie Nelson or Loretta Lynn can possilbly be discovered in this era of pop disguised in western wear. "Cookie cutter", is how Eilleen discribes the new Nashville mind-set. "They discourage any kind of originality. If there was a young George Jones out there, he might never get a chance."

Meet Eilleen Twain, better known to the world by the stage name Shania. She's a country star who sounds and sells like a pop singer, but as a fan, she longs for Nashville to rediscover the twang and hickory heart that enthralled her as child. "As a listener, there's is not a lot of country music today that I like." Twain says. "The classic country is what I pefer. It's just beautiful songwriting". These opinions might shock members of Nashville's old guard: It's no secret that many purists view Twain as a prime force behind the pop push in their genre. But that's nothing new for the Canadian singer. She may be a titan in the country music industry, but she remains an outsider and enigma.

To Twain, the logic is as simple as a Johnny Cash lyric: She grew up singing country songs , but never associated it with the boots and belt buckle scene. Her music is a true synthesis of her wide-ranging tastes, which she says makes her as authentic as any other artist. "I grew up in freakin' Timmins, Ontario," she says. "I'm not a cowboy. We had snowmobiles, not horses." Twain is the first female artist in any genre to sell 10 million copies of back-to-back (to back) albums, and by most accounts, she is the first great video star of country music. That success, she says, is from shedding the view that country music is limited to fans in rural America.

"I'm proof you don't have to be of the cowboy culture to enjoy country music." she says. Twain, who lives in Switzerland, drives a German car and cites a Briton (Sir Elton John) as her favorite performer, says country music should be as international as rock 'n roll. She says the country songs she learned as a child and has performed on stage since age eight are her "musical soul", but she did not pledge her heart soley to the genre. She also grew to love John, Stevie Wonder, Abba, the Bee Gees, and the Carpenters and even flirted with Def Leppard and AC/DC. Her youthful career made her a seasoned stage performer by the time she arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, nearly a decade ago, but the songs on her demo tape veered all over the musical map.

"People said, "You have to decide what you are, either pop or country or rock or R&B", but I couldn't make up my mind," she says "And in the end, I didn't have to. I wound up doing a little bit of everything. And it's wonderful." There have been many apologies coming from Nashville powers these days, Twain concedes with a self-conscious smile. Success breeds agreement, after all, and it's hard to argue with Twain's commercial success. She still has an edge in her voice, however, when asked if her artistic credibility is now recognized.

Twain is well-versed in country music history and she bridles at the idea of Nashville insiders believing her pop sensibilities and foreign passport mean she's ignorant about country music. "They're out there trying to find artists who are "true" and "real" and they're getting singers who just got out of college and have probably never listened to a Tammy Wynette album in their life," she says. "But because they're from, oh, Texas or something, they have a license to be considered a country artiste and I don't. I don't get it."

The crossover has made Twain successful in a relatively short time. The first of her three albums came out in 1993 and featured only one of her own songs. That self-titled debut received little attention, with on notable exception: rock producer Mutt Lange was smitten by the young singer. The two met, became collaborators and, in a matter of months, married. Their labors led to "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and a string of other hits off her 1995 sophomore effort titled "The Woman In Me". In all, songs from the album would spend well over 100 weeks on the country singles charts - without touring. She managed to eclipse those accomplishments with her most recent album, "Come On Over", which earned her two Grammys and produced her signature song, a ballad of devotion titled "You're Still The One". That song was perhaps more comfortable on pop stations than on some country music playlists, and it clearly introduced her to a vast, general fan base.

Twain's vision may be most powerful in the realm of videos. The 20 videos she has made - a large number for an artist with only two hit albums - have captured the attention and imagination of her fans. "She's the pre-eminent country music video star, definitely," says Chris Parr, programming director for the CMT music channel, which reaches 42 million U.S. homes. "She's the most prominent, most visually impactive artist on the country music scene. Her image is as important as her music." Her videos are dramatic and stylized, whether they show her vamping in a tight leopard-skin outfit in the desert or cavorting in an elegant evening gown among dusty cowboys in a roadside cafe. Twain has become the cover girl of country music, and the videos may be the key reason. She says the glamour in the videos, however, have very little to do with her personally.

Twain says glamour and luxury are trappings she still finds somewhat foreign. She is a very wealthy woman, of course, but she considers herself durable and non-flashy, like her well-worn blue jeans. She has not learned to spend money on superfluous luxury, she admits in a voice suggesting that is a weakness. A day earlier, she passed on a purse during a shopping trip because it was 500 dollars. She recently bought her first expensive car, a BMW Sportster, which will replace a creaky GMC Jimmy. Her husband fought her plea to pass on the BMW and buy a used car instead. Twain says she is "really working" on enjoying wealth, but she finds it difficult to think of money as a currency for fun.

The reason is Twain's background. Her parents were of modest means, and in rough times, the family hovered near poverty. The money Twain made as a child singer often helped pay the rent. At age 22, while on the road performing, Twain's parents were killed in a car crash. She became the sole support of her three younger siblings. The role of celebrity has required Twain to be candid about these events, which she says she does not resent. Even here Twain has taken criticism: some have questioned whether she overstated the facts of her background to milk sympathy. If anything, she has responded, she has understoond the facts of her past. "There are people in the Nashville industry that will never like what I say or what I do," she says. She makes that declaration with an easy shrug that suggests she could not care less what her critcs think.

"Of course it looks slick and glamorous and wonderful," Twain says of her signature videos. "That's the nature of it. That's marketing. None of us can escape it. If I could do it without all that, I'd love it. It's a lot more work. I'd rather just be a artist and not have to be the star."

Malaysia Galaxie Magazine June 1999; typed by Anne Marie of the Shania Forums

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Nice articles and some good insights on Shania's view of country music. She is right on most of it. Now, let's hope she makes some classic country (No rebuttle is needed).

and it is YEEE AHHHH, no RRR

-Chris

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Shania's Place
Shania: often imitated, never duplicated!!

"...Living, Loving, Laughing and Dreaming....."-Shania Twain

Shania sounds like she did in 2002 in that interview.

-Chris

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Shania's Place
Shania: often imitated, never duplicated!!

"...Living, Loving, Laughing and Dreaming....."-Shania Twain

That is a nice article and I think you are right, Chris because when Shania came to Milwaukee in 2002, their was a similar article like that in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal newspaper because I cut it out!

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Cheryl Kimpel

YEE-HAWWWW! Trust me, I've heard it almost everyday for 20 years. I can't wait to leave Texas, lol.

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~ELLEN~

Well it's from 1999. I brought it then.
And the picture from the interview I scanned is actually this one:

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My website. Check it out!
Eilleen "Shania" Twain

It is no small wonder that Shania has made it, with her many and varied skills that she has acquired and especially her knock out looks...Shania is always as modest as she was when she was a child...But she owes a lot of her success to her Mom Sharon and also to her Father Jerry Twain, who has always had a great deal of patience...Too bad that their lives had to end so abruptly for Shania...I guess you could call it destiny...But I have always recognized that Shania has a lot of country in her and I wish she would let just a little bit more of it out and especially from her Timmins Canadian viewpoint...She does not always have to express it from the Nashville stance...Hopefully her next album will bring out more of her Canadian side...I really want to see that...But this is an extremely good article on Shania Twain or should I say Eilleen Twain...

Benjamin

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In This Awesome Universe of ours, sometimes we only have each other !!!

I believe I remember this article, or one very similar to it. We adore Shania for many reasons, not withstanding her honesty about herself when she let's us in on rare occasions, and her candor about her music. Let alone how truly gifted she is as we all know, this article tells us a lot about how she feels about music in general. Here is this gal who rocks, pops and runs all over the stage when performing, plus is a fan of super rock and R&B stars like Elton John, Stevie Wonder and AC/DC, and yet she would prefer to see her country genre be more like 25 years ago with Willie, Waylon, Loretta, Tanya and Dwight. I guess the best way to sum that up is she does it her way, while at the same time she respects what has always made true country music unique. I just wish the powers that be would not sell her short. Shania can sing country music like that of yesterday with the best of em' Ye-haw!!!

Steve

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Together-midnight in summer
The air's so much warmer
Falling in love under starlight
Holding on so tight-together

Imagine-the air filled with jasmine
The breeze blows with passion
You and me dance with desire
The moon is on fire-imagine

Je t'aime beaucoup mon amour
You are the one I adore Te amo

I know we ruled out Shania caring anything about Nashville but does anyone else pick up a feeling of resentment here? It almost seems like she is saying that she's kinda hurt that they don't accept her and award her for her achievements in the genre. That's the feeling I get from here.

She just doesn't like Bashville's hypocracy....

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DOWN WITH BASHVILLE!!!

To me that quote just does not sound from Shania.... I donot know why...but it is a surprising quote..I do feel the resentment you mentioned too..that's why I am not sure it is indeed a "correct" Shania quote...

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Getting ready for it....just wait and see...

Yep, I think that is what she was expressing. Plus it exposes them.


-Chris

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Shania's Place
Shania: often imitated, never duplicated!!

"...Living, Loving, Laughing and Dreaming....."-Shania Twain

She's just giving Nashville a piece of her mind. She should do it more often, someone needs to stand up to their hypocrisy.

Oh thank you for the article. I have only 2 articles about her cut from magazines (biographic). They don't write much about her here. Thank you!

You can find some pretty good information on Shania right here on our site:
http://www.shaniafans.com/

Plus you can check out a couple more:
http://www.shanianut.com/ [Some great wallpapers, screensavers and other stuff]

http://www.shania-twain.co.uk/index.html [This was always a nice site, but it is under re-construction at the moment. ]

http://www.shaniasplace.com/ [Of course our own Spock's site is invaluable for good things about Shania]

There are numerous Shania sites out there. This is only a couple. Hope this is helpful.

Steve

__________________
Together-midnight in summer
The air's so much warmer
Falling in love under starlight
Holding on so tight-together

Imagine-the air filled with jasmine
The breeze blows with passion
You and me dance with desire
The moon is on fire-imagine

Je t'aime beaucoup mon amour
You are the one I adore Te amo