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The Day Shania Twain Proved The Obvious

CMT.com
May 29, 2008
by Tom Roland

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Thursday (May 29) marks an important date in the history of country music: the one-decade anniversary of the moment that Shania Twain was able to prove that, yes, she can in fact sing. She had already proven that by performing live after the release of her debut album in 1993, but then she put out The Woman In Me in 1995. That album audaciously sold multi-millions of CDs, instigating jealous whispers around Nashville that she was a complete studio fabrication of husband-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who'd made a huge impact on pop music by working with Def Leppard, AC/DC and Bryan Adams.

She unintentionally fueled the rumors with her own unorthodox choice after the release of The Woman In Me to refrain from touring until she had enough hits to dominate a live show, and she finally launched that tour May 29, 1998, in Sudbury, Ontario, the area in which she grew up. She sang ably, and as reports from the tour filed in during the ensuing months, most of the naysayers gave up their position.

There are those who still think the bulk of her success is derived from her marriage. Now that she and Lange are in the beginnings of a divorce (and what a mess that process will be, given the massive holdings they have on multiple continents), one assumes she'll move forward with a new producer -- or maybe even produce herself. As someone who once watched her rehearse two vocalists while preparing for a radio tour, I can tell you she is every bit an artist with a perfectionist bent, and not a mere puppet. It'll be interesting to see where she goes on her own. And it will be equally interesting to see how her efforts are greeted by the same industry that once doubted her.

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