56) Shania Twain

I have a fancy for western music and my cousin would chide me for not growing up despite my over 40 years on the scale.

Yesterday he came and started his moan as he caught me watching Shania Twain crooning on MTV. He said, “Man, you are too old to watch this teeny weeny stuff with girls dancing in next to nothing clothes and made-up to look like caricatures. What’s so special in them that you waste your time on them?”

I said, “She is Shania Twain and she is no itsy bitsy girl but a remarkable woman who has single handedly overcome many odds”.

I briefed him on what little I knew about the artist.
Twain was born as Eilleen Regina Edwards to Sharon and Clarence Edwards, who divorced when she was two. Sharon remarried Jerry Twain, who adopted her and changed her name to Eilleen Twain.

One of five children, Eilleen Edwards had a hard childhood. Her parents earned little and her mother was often depressed over the shortage of food and money in the household. However that didn’t come in the way of her mother mentoring and encouraging Eilleen's singing talent. Eileen also added to the family kitty by singing in local clubs and bars from a very young age to support her family.

At the age of 13, Eilleen Twain was invited to performing on television and was slowly marking her presence in the music world and that’s when destiny hit her hard. Her mother and adoptive father died in a car accident leaving behind a 22 year old Eileen and her two half-brothers and a sister. Eileen was the sole breadwinner for the family as she supported them by performing at a local resort.

She was so good in her acts that she was spotted by a lawyer who invited her to record a demo tape. That led to her first recording contract and she changed her name from Eileen Twain to Shania Twain. Since her first record,” Shania Twain”, she is considered an icon of the recording industry having gone gold and platinum many times.

My cousin Aravind heard this and he too for a moment was stunned as I homed in,”We can find tales of courage and talent in any field and singing is no exception”.

He conceded ground saying, “What a remarkable woman to have survived and thrived from such despair”.

Since then he no longer picks me on my fads.