Shania Twain, born Eilleen Regina Edwards in 1965, grew up in poverty in Timmins, Ontario. Raised in a blended family, she endured hardship, including abuse and periods without heat or electricity. Music became her escape—by age 8, she was performing in bars to help support her family. At 22, her parents died in a car accident, forcing her to care for her siblings.

She put her dreams on hold and worked as a singer at Deerhurst Resort. There, she refined her craft and caught the attention of the music industry. Signed by Mercury Nashville in the early ’90s, her second album The Woman in Me (1995) launched her to fame.