how it all began:
"We basically got together because of my first album. He was intrigued by my voice and wanted to know if I was a songwriter. We got together over the phone and started exchanging song ideas. We were compatible right off the bat, (so) we started literally writing 'The Woman In Me' over the phone. . . It wasn't love at first sight with me (when I finally met him face to face). I had already fallen in love with his mind before I ever had any romantic inclinations towards him."

"Mutt was working out to my album every morning. I was just this new artist that he was introduced to. So he found out how to get a hold of me. When we had our first phone conversation, I was so in tune with him creatively. At first, I didn't know who he was. "He said, `I want to know how serious of a songwriter you are. Why don't you sing me something you've been working on?' So I sang him 'Home Ain't Where His Heart Is (Anymore)' over the phone. And he let me listen to what he was working on. It was Michael Bolton's 'I Said I Loved You But I Lied', which is Mutt's song .So I listened to it and i thought, "Wow! this guys really good!" (laughs) I thought it was so great, I said, oh I can definitely write with this guy. Oh okay, me and half the world! I think that in his own mind he's thinking i really wanna get together with this person and write. So that's when we decided to meet at fan fair in June '93."

Their collaboration was crucial to bringing out Twain's delightful pop-country sensibility. Coming from a rock records background with production clients including Def Leppard, AC/DC and the Cars, Lange was unencumbered by fear of country radio's oft-voiced preference for sound-alike artists to fit specific demographics. Still, it wasn't Lange only who put the pop in Twain's music.

"People think the pop stuff is coming from Mutt," she says. "But what they don't understand is that almost the opposite is true. His real love as a listener is country. He'd like the whole thing to be steel and fiddle. I grew up singing country, and I need to draw from other music just for inspiration. So when I get a chance to branch out in another direction, I take it."

"When we started working together, I became such a fan of his voice. 'No One Needs to Know' is kind of like a duet. I love us together on that.


falling in love:
"One day we just hugged. We'd hugged before, I mean, goodbye at the airport. But that time we just didn't let go for the longest time. It was so intense. I thought: "I really don't want to let go of this person." At that moment we knew we had a lot to talk about. It was great....it was a sweet sweet moment."

"Looking at him the day I fell in love, and looking at him the day before? Two different things."


their relationship:
"We work together, we write together. Musically we have a great thing going, because we share something so intimate, so natural. "

"One song on her album, 'God Bless the Child', an aching lullaby, was written after her parents' tragic accident. "I felt totally lost, and that song was my crying out. I sang it until I met Mutt." Now", she says, "I don't feel lost anymore."

"I'm usually in the kitchen cooking, working out songs in my head while Mutt is in the living room watching some sort of game. Although it's not unusual for us to not see each other for up to a month, because one of us is off working on a project or video.''


why he isn't with her at award ceremonies:
"He never comes with me. I don't think he ever will, and I totally understand where he comes from. He's a humble guy and basically he doesn't want to be a star. He just wants to be a person who makes the music... he wants people to know him through his music."

"He doesn't do interviews. He could have been a star himself. He's got great rock`n' roll hair and he's in great shape and he's got such a great voice. But he's a producer at heart. He doesn't want to be a star."


how he's influenced Shania:
"He really helped my confidence as a songwriter. He convinced me to be myself. I can be pretty black and white and frank and there's a lot of attitude in some of my songs. Mutt said it was cool and worked well. I just think Mutt's been able to bring out the best in me. He's made me a much better writer."