Shania Twain hosted the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards on May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was her first time hosting, making her only the third woman to host a solo show after Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. She opened with a single (“Honey, you’re HOME!”), changed clothes several times, presented Entertainer of the Year to Cody Johnson, and announced her new album Little Miss Twain.
The look that took away the “not for rent” conversation: a strapless silver sequin dress by Falguni & Shane Peacock from their Ashen Roses Collection, with a black panther motif on the skirt (a nod to the designer’s signature), satin streamers on the chest, and an elbow-length black leather opera. She debuted “sexy bangs” and a new hair color.
On the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast in 2023, Shania addressed the frequent surgery rumors: “What if I’m one of those guys who doesn’t heal well? Then I’m going to hate that about myself.” He said speculation drove him elsewhere: “Maybe that was part of what pushed me to go, okay, it’s time to start loving yourself in your own skin.”
Here’s what leaves out the magazine cover of her face.
Shania was born Eilleen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965, in Windsor, Ontario. He grew up in Timmins in extreme poverty (his “poor man’s sandwich” was bread and mayo), in a home that his mother Sharon was trying to escape. His stepfather Jerry Twain, who was Ojibwe, adopted him. The name “Shania” is an Ojibwe word that means “I’m on my way.” He began performing in bars at age 8, often doing midnight sets, to bring in $20 in tips and help support the family.
On November 1, 1987, Jerry and Sharon were killed in a car crash. Shania was 22 years old. He moved his siblings Jill, Carrie Ann, Mark, and Darryl into a small house and kept gigging at bars to keep them fed and clothed.
Woman in Me came out in 1995 and sold over 20 million copies. Come On Over followed in 1997 and became the best-selling studio album by a female artist of any genre at the time. His total sales are over 100 million records worldwide.
Around 2003, at the end of the Up! tour, a tick bite while riding a horse gave him Lyme disease. The bacteria traveled to his throat and caused nerve damage to both vocal cords. There was a place where he couldn’t call his dog. His voice cracked mid-sentence. It took almost 7 years for doctors to link his symptoms to Lyme. In her 2022 Netflix novel Not Just a Girl, she said she was ready to die during the intervening years of losing her voice and learning that her husband and producer Robert “Mutt” Lange was having an affair with her best friend.
Around 2011, he underwent two throat surgeries to stabilize his vocal cords. He had to be awake for parts of the procedure, singing on the operating table so that the surgeons could place the implants in the right way. Years of vocal retraining followed. The damage is permanent and will gradually increase, but he said: “I have a different voice now, but I own it. I love my voice now.”
He is 60 years old.
