Shania Twain on the Difference Between Eilleen Twain and Her Shania Stage Persona

Shania Twain debuted in the early 1990s and was a little-known country music singer at the start of her career. But by the end of the decade, Shania Twain would be a household name. When Twain reflects on her fame and how it has affected Eilleen Twain the person, she admits that her fame got in the way of her personal care.

How Shania Twain got her stage name

Twain looked back on the process of choosing her stage name in her 2011 memoir From This Moment On. Her new record company wanted her to take a stage name, and she racked her brain trying to come up with one.

“That I agreed to the record company’s request for me to change my name should be sufficient evidence of my level of cooperation. To be honest, I had more qualms about the caliber of material being sent my way that I did about adopting a professional name. After all, even Mark Twain himself was born Samuel Clemens,” she said. 

“The thought of picking out a stage name actually struck me as kind of fun. But I made it clear to everyone that under no circumstances would I change my last name, out of respect and loyalty to my father,” she said. “To abandon our family surname would have made me feel like a traitor. But even I had to admit that Eilleen and Twain didn’t make for a dynamic combination for a performer.”

“What, then, to pair with Twain?” she wondered, thinking back to her time performing at a Canadian ski resort that led to her professional music career. “I tried a long list of combinations. Then I remembered a wardrobe mistress I’d met at Deerhurst Resort shortly before I left there. She was about my age and, like me, had been raised in a biracial family, only her mother was Native American, and her father was white. The first time she introduced herself as Shania, I had to ask her to repeat herself. I had never heard such a beautiful, unique, and exotic name, which unbeknown to me at the time, means ‘on my way.’ I just knew that the name had such a hopeful ring to it.”

The difference between Shania Twain and Eilleen Twain

As Shania Twain became a global superstar after the release of her albums The Woman In Me and Come On Over, she began losing touch with Eilleen Twain the person. She lamented that her professional persona was becoming the only person who mattered.

“Most of my communication was happening through things like interviews and work meetings, so all I ever talked about was career related. This was soul destroying, as conversation rarely went on to subjects not related to my professional life, and I never got to talk about the inspiration I drew from exploring and experiencing new things, like vacationing somewhere of my dreams and meeting new people who were interested in the real me and not the ‘Shania’ me,” she said.

“After a while, you start to develop two very different existences,” she continued. “The private world of me, Eilleen, is safe for her to be herself, to swear, to drink too much, to wear the wrong clothes, to sing out of tune, to be late, to behave regretfully — the list of imperfections that I’m allowed to display without being judges or criticized goes on and on. As Shania, however, I’ve spent years being overly attentive to how people perceived me, at all times.”

“I’m less concerned in this regard now than I was even five years ago, however,” she added. “Not that I would say I don’t care what people think; in fact, I’m less likely to pose nude for Playboy today than ever before, especially now that gravity is having its way with me. But I am more relaxed about criticism and sense I’m less affected by the things I cannot control.”

She now views herself as one, complete person

After the wild ride of her success in the late ’90s and early ’00s, Twain was better able to make sense of having two different people inside of her, and has since been able to live her life as one complete, whole person.

“Whereas I used to see a division between Eilleen the person and Shania the personality, now they have merged into one: I want to be one person who designates a time and place for all aspects of her personality and character,” she said. “Just as swimming is done in the water and soup is eaten with a spoon, making love is for behind closed doors; intimate time with my family belongs to us personally; and public appearances and performances are confined to the stage, studio, and cameras.”

“I can be and do all the different things that make me happy and keep me fulfilled without having to compromise who I am supposed to be,” she concluded. “I’ve defined those things for myself now and don’t allow them to be dictated by anyone else.”