'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Canadian singer and songwriter Shania Twain is the best-selling female artist in the history of country music and the proud winner of five Grammy Awards. Produced by Mercury Studios and directed by Joss Crowley, the documentary Not Just a Girl will chronicle Shania's journey from her humble life in Ontario to her subsequent rise to stardom in the 1990s. Set to release on Netflix on July 26, the documentary will contain concert footage, music video clips, and new interviews with Twain, along with various insights from the likes of Lionel Richie, Avril Lavigne, Orville Peck, and Kelsea Ballerini.
Twain will also be digitally releasing the companion soundtrack to the documentary, Not Just a Girl (The Highlights), on the same day. This album will contain some of her biggest hits, such as You’re Still the One, From This Moment On, That Don’t Impress Me Much, Man! I Feel Like a Woman! along with the new song Not Just a Girl.
Before you catch her in Not Just a Girl and listen to her record-breaking songs on her new album, here are some lesser-known facts about the Queen of Country Pop.
5 things you might not know about Shania Twain
1) Her real name is not Shania Twain
Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965. Her mother remarried her stepfather, Jerry Twain, when she was four years old. When she started her musical journey at 24, under recording label Mercury Records, she changed her name to Shania Twain professionally, paying homage to her stepfather's Ojibwa heritage, while still being known as Eilleen in personal circles.
2) She wrote her first song when she was just 10 years old
Shania Twain first wrote a song was when she was just a 10 year-old child. She wrote the song Mama Won't You Come Out to Play, hoping her isolating mother would stop “watching life happen from inside through a window.”
Twain further stated,
“My mother was ... sad a lot of the time and really just didn't have the courage to get out and face life, and so that's why I wrote that song ... inviting my own mother to come out and play.”
3) She lived a very different kind of life back in her high school days
In high school, Shania used to play the trumpet. She also worked the counter at McDonald's selling french fries. Twain's 2011 memoir, titled From This Moment On, goes on to describe the harrowing degree of poverty amid which she and her five siblings grew up.
She wrote that sometimes, there was only bread and mustard for the five of them to fill their stomachs. She further added how they had to wear plastic bread bags over their shoes to protect their feet during winter, and that they regularly went to school without lunch.
4) She is one of the very few artists whose songs have been played in space
In 2001, Shania's hit song Honey, I'm Home was used to wake up the crew members of the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
However, that wasn't the only time her song was played in space. In 2007, her extremely popular song Up! was played to wake up the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, specifically the Canadian astronaut Dave Williams.
5) She co-wrote a song for Britney Spears
Shania Twain co-wrote the song Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know along with guitar player Keith Scott for popstar Britney Spears’ second studio album, Oops! I Did It Again. The album went on to become one of Britney's best-selling albums till date. Twain’s songs have also appeared on the soundtracks of Gilmore Girls and The Big Bang Theory.
Shania Twain has acted as an inspiration for many artists by overcoming the boundaries between country and pop songs, and has paved the way for pop icons such as Taylor Swift. Don't forget to stream her documentary Not Just a Girl, which will be dropping on Netflix on July 26.
