Where Has the Biggest Selling Female Country Singer Been For the Last 15 Years?

Yes -- the female who has sold the most country records is Shania Twain. She's sold more than Dolly, Reba, Loretta, Patsy or anyone. The only country singer, male or female, that's sold more albums is Garth Brooks. So where has Shania been since her last big hit in 2002?

That's a recent picture of Shania from the 2020 Grammy awards in January.  She still looks great at age 54, especially considering what she's been through in the last fifteen years.

Her career had skyrocketed since her first charted tune in 1993. She had great  songs and a well known producer named "Mutt" Lange,  and she was packing concerts on her tours. At a concert in Norfolk, Virginia, disaster struck.

Shania was bitten by a tick. She remembers seeing it falling from her body, but the damage had been done. She had contracted Lyme disease from the tick's bite. Soon Shania began feeling tired and weak at her concerts. In an interview with The Independent she said

I almost fell  off the stage every night. I was very very dizzy and didn't know what was going on.

Finally the disease progressed to her vocal cords. She knew she had to quit trying to perform. She told People magazine:

I thought it was fatigue or burnout but no--Lyme disease commonly affects the nerves.

She finally gave up trying to sing. She could not even understand why she felt so bad. Then came the the discovery that her husband was having an affair with her personal assistant and best friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud, who was also married.  This is where Shania's life starts sounding like a country song. After her divorce from Mutt, she married Thiebaud's ex-husband Frederic.

After years of trying to get her voice back, Shania had two open throat surgeries on her voice box. She has had therapy and feels that her voice is back close to where she was before she contracted the disease. She's touring now and plans a concert residency at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood starting this weekend May 22.

Take at look at this video from last year at the AMA award show. Shania has her throat scar covered with a necklace and her voice doesn't quite have the power she had 15 years ago but ...well--see what you think as she does a medley of songs that sold almost 100 million albums worldwide....