Shania Twain’s life began far from the bright lights of fame. Growing up in Timmins, Ontario, she lived in a crowded home where money was always tight, the furnace didn’t consistently work, and dinner was never guaranteed. With her stepfather’s low-paying reforestation job and a mother struggling with depression, Shania and her four siblings learned early what it meant to go without.

At school, the differences were impossible to hide. Lunchtime became an act of pretending she had forgotten her food, hoping others wouldn’t finish theirs so she could quietly take what remained. Despite the hardship, she found a form of peace in music, which quickly became her escape. Whenever she needed a moment of calm, Shania would slip into the woods with her guitar. She would build a tiny fire and sing to herself, letting the cold and the worry fade into the trees. Those moments alone helped shape the artist she would later become.

Her mother, recognizing her daughter’s talent, took action early. When Shania was just eight years old, she began bringing her to late-night bar gigs. Because the bars had already served alcohol by the time she performed, it technically made her presence “legal.” By the age of eleven, Shania had earned a performance permit that allowed her to sing earlier shows. She kept pushing forward, and by fourteen, she finally began earning money for her performances. Every bit of income mattered.

Not long after, she secured a steady job at McDonald’s. She later described it as her “saving grace,” because it provided both a necessary paycheck and, just as importantly, consistent meals. That reliability meant more than most people realized. Her days settled into an intense routine: school during the day, work in the evening, and singing whenever she could. Exhaustion became familiar, but so did determination. Through it all, Shania held tightly to her dream — a dream that kept her moving forward even when life felt overwhelmingly difficult.