Shania Twain is coming to Prince George for the first time.
What a way to celebrate 100 years as a city and 25 years as a venue. The publicly owned and operated CN Centre will host Canada's music legend on Oct. 22. Other than Celine Dion, Neil Young and Bryan Adams, no one else in Canadian history has sold more albums than Twain. She is the highest-selling female country recording artist of all time, a monolithic feat considering she has passed iconic names like Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Reba McEntire and Anne Murray.
Shania Twain became a household name around the world when, in 1995, her album The Woman In Me blew away the records for country music sales, but then out came Come On Over in 1997 and did even better. It was, at the time, the best-selling album in history by a female recording artist of any description.
But we in Canada already knew her. Singles like What Made You Say That and Dance With The One Who Brought You set some fires on Canadian radio in the early '90s, and in regional circles she was known to audiences and other country performers even when her given name Eilleen was the one on the handbills and posters.
There could be bar fights sparked today over what Shania's best song is. Some like her humourous breakout single Any Man Of Mine, some prefer the high octane You Win My Love, or the fist pounder If You're Not In It For Love, I'm Outta Here. The light and airy tunes No One Needs To Know and Forever And For Always are longtime favourites, the assertive tunes Man, I Feel Like A Woman and That Don't Impress Me Much are imbedded on playlists, You're Still The One didn't win two Grammy Awards for nothing, and Honey I'm Home is beloved for its wit and poppy beat. The list could go on.
In fact, she intends it to go on. After considerable time off from the demands of the show-biz industry, Twain announced that more albums were coming and 2015 was going to be the launch pad of her next musical phase.
What she didn't announce until Thursday was Prince George was included in those plans. Tickets go on sale July 24 at 10 a.m.
