Shania Twain‘s biggest and boldest dreams for herself never included becoming a global superstar who would change the entire country music format. Instead, she just wanted to write songs and, if she was really, really lucky, have the chance to sing back-up for Stevie Wonder.
“I never really wanted to be the center of attention,” Shania told Good Morning America. “I always dreamt of being the backup singer to Stevie Wonder. That was my big dream as a singer — and then to write incredible songs that other artists would record. That would be my honor and those were my creative dreams.”
Shania’s now-famous rags to riches story includes growing up in Canada, performing as a child in bars to help her family make ends meet, and later raising her siblings after her mother and step-father were killed in a car accident. While struggling to make enough money to take care of her brothers and sisters, she also realized early on that being in country music as a woman wouldn’t be easy.
“We’re always on guard, and I think that that was just my whole feeling growing up, not just because I was a woman, but also just because I grew up poor. I was disadvantaged in a lot of ways,” Shania explained. “And being in the country music industry as a woman can be a disadvantage. It’s just a fact.”
By the time Shania was ready to make her mark in country music, she had already become quite accustomed to fighting for her way, in anything.
“I always had to fight harder as a kid — and growing up in my adolescence — in order to be seen, to be heard … so it’s become part of my character and my self-expression,” shared the singer.
It was Shania’s own mother that encouraged her daughter to become an artist instead of hiding in the background.
“‘The only way you’re ever going to make money is if you’re the one out there in the middle of it all,'” Shania recalled her saying.
Although extremely shy and battling intense stage fright — something the now-54-year-old says she still struggles with — Shania also learned from her early years how to overcome her fears.
“Putting survival first, understanding — and with more and more maturity as I went — that the only way to succeed, and by succeeding I mean just even exist, to be seen, to be recognized, to be respected, you have to dive in and put your fears aside and you cannot let your fears get in your way,” Shania noted. “This has created a very, very dynamic side of me that I otherwise may not have grown into if I didn’t have the disadvantage of being female in this industry.”
