After 20 Years, Shania’s “Still The One”

When Shania Twain sings “any man of mine better walk the line”, I stand up and take notice.

So, when Caesars Palace released Shania’s summer schedule and Olivia Newton-John announced her spring and summer residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino last week, I jumped at the opportunity for a “teasin’, squeezin’, pleasin’ kinda time” in “Xanadu”!

Oh, why we’re at it, why not add in a “heartbeatin’, fine treatin’, breathtakin’, earthquakin'” evening to see “Summer Nights” with Olivia and “Still The One” with Shania.

As you know, Shania Twain is an international superstar in both pop and country music.  She is best-selling female singer of all time and her “Come On Over” album is the best-selling country album of all time with worldwide sales of more than 40 million!

Most of the world first heard of Shania in early 1995 when “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”, from her album “The Woman In Me”, soared up to #11 on the Billboard Country chart.

When the follow-up, “Any Man of Mine”, topped the chart, it sent the Timmins, Ontario songstress on a fast track from being a virtual unknown to “Entertainer of The Year” and Grammy Award winner in just a year.

However, I first got a taste of her beautiful voice when I moved to Chicago from Kentucky in the summer of 1994.  Charlie’s, the gay country bar in Boystown, played “What Made You Say” all the time.

It was the first single from her 1993 self-titled debut album.  Even today, almost 20 years later, it’s still my favorite Shania Twain song!

Sadly, that song and its follow-up, “Dance With The One That Brought You” both stalled at #55 on the Billboard Country chart.  Shania’s worldwide success would have to wait until 1995, but she already had a fan in me!

Since that first album in 1993, Shania has sold over 80 million albums worldwide.

In the summer of 2011, Shania announced that she would begin a two-year residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.  And, then in November 2012, just weeks before the kick-off of the show, the busy Las Vegas Strip was shut down for a herd of 40 horses and Shania to arrive in style to promote the show.

I still have three months before I get to see Shania and that’ll give me plenty of time to listen to all four of her albums over and over again (which I’ve been doing for weeks even before buying tickets) and to read her autobiography “From This Moment On”.

Last October when we were in Zurich, Switzerland, where Shania lives when she’s not in Las Vegas, I was hoping to run into her and Tina Turner, who also lives there.  I knew it wouldn’t happen, but a boy can wish, can’t he?

And, since I’m wishing right now, maybe Shania will surprise me on May 31st when I see her in concert and she’ll hum a few bars of “What Made You Say That” just for me.

Now, before I share my favorite Shania songs and I hope you check them out, you have to see this amazing feature on Shania with Robin Roberts.  It goes to show that no matter how successful one becomes or how much money one earns, Shania is a beautiful, genuine person through and through.

While it’s difficult to pick my favorite Shania songs, here are a few —  my Shania jukebox.  If you’ve listened to pop or country radio in the past 20 years, I know you’ve heard several of these picks.

But, I highly recommend you check out “What Made You Say That” (above) and “Dance With The One That Brought You” and “Ka-Ching” (below), which are amazing, but were not very popular in the U.S. — diamonds in the rough!

“DANCE WITH THE ONE THAT BROUGHT YOU” (#55, 1993)

“YOU WIN MY LOVE” (#1, 1996)

“NO ONE NEED TO KNOW” (#1, 1996)

“DON’T BE STUPID (YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU)” (#6, 1998)

“THAT DON’T IMPRESS ME MUCH” (#8, 1998)

“KA-CHING” (This song wasn’t released in the U.S., but it’s one of Shania’s biggest European hits.  It hit the Top Ten in Germany and the U.K. in 2003)

“ENDLESS LOVE” (with Lionel Richie from his “Tuskegee” album.  It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 2012)

Yesterday, I blogged about Olivia’s “Summer Nights” show that I’ll see in Vegas the night before Shania.  Here’s the link:

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/im-still-hopelessly-devoted-to-olivia/

On this trip to Vegas, I was hoping for a trifecta with Shania, Olivia, and Britney.

Brit Brit will have to wait until my next trip to Vegas.  For now, I can’t wait to see Shania and Olivia.

Anthony