Born August 28, 1965, in Windsor, Ontario, Eileen "Shania" Twain and her four siblings were reared in Timmins, Ontario (located some 500 miles north of Toronto), by her mother Sharon and adoptive father Jerry Twain. A forester and prospector by trade (and an Ojibway Indian himself), Jerry Twain rarely had steady work, and the family's financial circumstances were often dire.Music, if not money, was a constant in the household, and as a toddler Twain delighted in the songs of Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, and Willie Nelson, as well as in those of various pop artists of the day. She showed promise as a singer even as a pre-schooler, and by the time she was 8, she was playing guitar, writing songs, and performing publicly, often roused from sleep by her parents to perform at local watering holes after 1 a.m., when the minor was allowed on liquor-serving premises.
Pinning much hope on her daughter's talents, Sharon Twain encouraged Shania's aspirations throughout her high school years, and the fledgling singer-songwriter divided her summers between working at McDonald's, helping her father, and fronting Top 40 cover bands. Upon graduating, she headed to Toronto to pursue music more seriously. In 1987, however, Twain's world was shattered by tragedy when both her parents were killed in a car crash. Returning home to care for her younger siblings, she began supporting the household by singing and dancing at Ontario's Deerhurst Resort, where the experience of combining music with theatrical performance helped her develop a feel for showmanship that would later be put to good use.
Twain continued to write during this period, and her first manager eventually succeeded in persuading a representative of Mercury Records in Nashville to listen to her demo tape. Impressed by Twain's compositional skills, th
