POP MUSIC : ROCK/COUNTRY/R&B;/RAO/LATION/JAZZ : The Story: Woman Meets Man . . . : . . . And they get married. Then he, a powerhouse rock producer, jumpstarts her career. Meet Shania Twain, country’s latest flame.

What does Shania Twain, the hottest newcomer in country music, have in common with headbanging rock bands AC/DC and Def Leppard?

Amazingly, the same record producer: Robert (Mutt) Lange.

Though he’s never been identified with country music, Lange apparently fell in love with Twain’s voice when he heard her first album in 1993.

When the two finally met a few months later at Nashville’s annual Fan Fair, Twain not only ended up with a record producer and co-writer but also a husband.

Though her first album was largely ignored, her second, “The Woman in Me,” which Lange produced, is a big hit. Thanks to the pop and country radio exposure for such female-oriented songs as “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” and “Any Man of Mine,” the new album has sold nearly 700,000 copies. It was No. 1 last week on the national country sales charts (edging out Garth Brooks’ greatest-hits package) and No. 6 on the pop charts.

Though Lange, who said he didn’t want to steal Twain’s thunder, declined to be interviewed for this story, Twain concedes that her career wouldn’t be where it is without him.

“We had spent a lot of time talking on the phone about my music before we even met,” says Twain, 29, whose first name is pronounced sha-NYE-ah.

“But the quality of the songs [most of them written by others], wasn’t as good on that first album. I had written some songs for the album, but Mercury Records didn’t want to use them. My husband helped me reshape those same songs for this album and arrange them in a way that made them much more listenable. It’s amazing he was able to do a country album because he’d never done one before.”

Having a rock ‘n’ roll producer isn’t the only thing that distinguishes Twain from your average country singer.

Not only is she one of the few country stars who wasn’t born in the South, she wasn’t even born in the U.S. Twain was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in small, rustic Timmins, in the Ojibway Indian community, her father’s tribe.

Nor did she have to pay the usual dues on the Nashville club circuit. Instead, Twain developed her performing skills in Canada and was promising enough to have a Mercury Records deal already in her pocket when she arrived in Nashville in 1991.

Twain, whose attractiveness has also helped propel her popularity through her videos, is an animated talker who virtually bubbles when she talks, but she frowns at the suggestion that her looks have been a major factor in her success.

“When people buy my music, pretty is not what they’re buying,” she says sharply.

Program director R.J. Curtis of Los Angeles country station KZLA-FM explains just what they are buying. “It’s that unique sound that Mutt Lange came up with--country with that sort of rock production,” he says. “There’s nothing else like it out there.”

Twain seems to have a realistic view of her talent. “I’m not a great singer,” she says emphatically. “I’m just OK. It’s more a personality thing. I have the kind of voice that people can relate to. People believe what I’m singing about.”

Luke Lewis, president of the Nashville division of Mercury Records, has his own spin on Twain’s record success.

“You have women really loving some of the lyrics and guys loving the way she looks,” he says. “It seems to be that both of those things working together are the key.”

Though Americans don’t think of Canada as a hotbed of country music, the genre is popular in many parts of the country. Twain grew up surrounded by it. “My parents loved that music,” she recalls. “I heard it around the house all the time so I grew to love it too.”

Listing her country influences doesn’t take very long. There’s just one name: Dolly Parton.

“She has it all--talent, looks, business ability,” Twain says. “She’s really been an inspiration to me.”

But any notions Twain had about a country career were put on hold eight years ago, when she became the prime breadwinner for her two brothers and her sister after their parents were killed in an auto accident.

“I was working in this one resort singing show tunes and standards because the money was decent,” says Twain. “It wasn’t until after the kids left home that I was able to pursue my career. I knew if I wanted to be a country singer I had to go to Nashville.”

You couldn’t tell she was a budding star from her 1993 debut album, “Shania Twain,” a colorless collection of songs.

“It wasn’t really me,” she says now. “I don’t hate the album. But I’m better singing songs I write.”

Meaning slightly male-bashing songs like “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”

“That’s where I’m coming from,” she replies in a satisfied tone. “A lot of the songs I sing women can relate to well. There’s a tough side of me that comes across in my songs--a side women seem to pick up on. Don’t let this frilly look fool you.”*

Hear Shania Twain

* To hear a sample of Shania Twain’s album “The Woman in Me,” call TimesLine at 808-8463 and press *5721.

In 805 area code, call (818) 808-8463.