Shania Twain

The Fruits of My Research - Shania Twain

Famous singer/songwriter and author. Shania Twain first achieved fame as the author of “The Adventures of Hucklebery Hound”, a book about growing up in politically incorrect times. Subsequent books failed to achieve the standard of this classic and so she resorted to singing in bars to make a living.

She released a few albums of her own songs but sales were disappointing. Songs like “Man, I feel like a donut” and “That don’t impress my tuque” proved popular in her native Canada, but sales were poor in the USA and Europe. A cynic may say that anything with the word “donut” on will sell in Canada but we won’t go into that.

Her big break came when she met Muttley “Mutt” Lange and they fell in love with each other’s earning potential. She was working on the animated adaptation of her book at the Hanna Barbera studios where she met Muttley who was acting in the adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Wacky Races” at the same studio. Despite being known as the “actor’s actor” for the depth and sophistication he brought to the role of Dick Dastardly’s assistant, it was Muttley’s talent as a record producer that brought him to Twain’s attention.

The first album they produced together “Razzin’ Fazzin’ Dazzin’ Dick Dastardly” went silver, gold and platinum worldwide simultaneously. Critics claim that it is Muttley’s brains, songwriting and production talents that have led to the phenomenal success of the record and that Twain just provides a pretty face on the cover. Twain vigorously denies this pointing out that Muttley’s main contribution to the recording was twiddling his knobs in the control room while she performed. “I wrote all the songs myself” she claims on her website. What is undeniable is that hits like “What’s new, Compact Pussycat”, “Pitstop, in the name of love” and “Catch the Pigeon” all carry the unmistakeable imprint of Muttley.