A letter from Shania Twain

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Usually I sit down with a cup of tea and a few pillows behind my back and read and answer the mail I get from fans (that is, when I get the time). But here I've been asked to write a letter to fans. This past year has been a year of many firsts and this is the first fan letter I've written to the public, so I am simply going to write a little about myself and hopefully you will read things in this letter that you have never read before.

Strangely enough, most of my fan mail comes from America, even though I am Canadian. In fact, most Canadians have never heard of me before. I am a new artist in the country music recording industry, having released my first album through Mercury Records in Nashville, Tennessee, less than a year ago. The three singles released were What Made You Say That, Dance With The One That Brought You and You Lay A Whole Lotta Love On Me. Country Music Television has been extremely helpful to me this past year, in giving me visibility throughout North America and Europe. I actually won my first award this year, from CMT Europe, called The Rising Star Award. VHI, MuchMusic and TNN have also been incredibly helpful.

The highlight of this past year was Fan Fair '93 in Nashville. I had the opportunity to meet and perform for the people behind the letters. The fans make all the travelling and loneliness worth it. I am always anxious to hear what my fans think. Their opinions mean everything to me, and I enjoy my contact with them immensely.

There was a time when I was terrified of the public. I was quite happy to sit alone in my room strumming and singing away to Dolly, Merle or any records or 8-tracks we had at the time. I would also lock myself away for hours to create my own music. I just didn't want to do it in front of other people. My parents really started helping me get over this fear, by putting me up on any and every stage they could find. They had me singing in community centres, homes for the elderly, telethons, nightclubs (on weekends), radio shows, country television shows like the Tommy Hunter Show, Easy Country and so on (family gatherings were no exception). Because I started singing at such a young age, my classmates became my first audience. At 6 years old I sang Country Roads for Show and Tell, which was a period of the morning class where the kids show their hobbies to one another. Mine was singing, so I sang that song. All my classmates thought I was being a "show off" and it really created serious inhibitions for me. From that point on, I was afraid to perform. I thought that it was true, in a way, since you do have to do your best and show what you've got when you are performing. I just never got comfortable with "showing off". I had to learn how to switch it on and off in my mind. I realized, in time, that people enjoy being entertained and that it was a blessing to be able to make people happy through performing. I still have to use the switch to psyche myself up to get into performance-mode before going on stage, or any other type of performing like interviews or public appearances.

I grew up in Nothern Ontario. My home town is Timmins. Although I spent most of my childhood there, we moved around a lot between Sudbury, Hanmer and Toronto. I am the only child in our family who wasn't actually born in Timmins- my mother was out of town on a visit to Windsor when I was born in 1965. I have a great love for the wilderness and will some day soon live as hidden away in the bush as possible. I love remote places and isolation. As I child I would wander off by myself with guitar and matches in hand, to find a quiet spot in the bush or the backyard to build a little fire and write songs. If I would hear anyone coming, or calling my name, I would be still or quiet as a mouse until they went away. I love people, but I definitely need solitude. I really love animals, and I become quite excited and childlike around them. Even watching them from a distance is extremely pleasurable to me. Most of all in life, I enjoy being happy. Laughing is my favorite pastime and I make little or no room for negativity in my life. We were poor when I was a child and we didn't always know what, when, or where our next meal was going to come from. Or when the heat was going to get turned back on in the middle of a Northern winter. I have had some harsh lessons on the frailty of human life. But through it all, I still believe that love and happiness are the most important things and to never lose sight of them. Life passes us by very quickly whether we are happy or unhappy. So, I put most of my energy into happiness. You can't have a happy face if you don't have a happy heart!

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This letter appears courtesy of Country, Canada's Country Music Magazine.

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