The World's Hottest Divorcée

Earlier in the week, it was announced that music star Shania Twain and her producer husband Mutt Lange were busting up after 14 years of marriage. This comes as no surprise to me, as couples like this always bust up.

What's more interesting about this (to me, at least) is the whole money thing that usually follows a divorce, especially when one party is super-famous and the other is some ugly dude you didn't even know she was married to. Like Britney and K-Fed. K-Fed gets millions for ruining what used to be Britney Spears. Same with several of J-Lo's husbands. Same with Melissa Matheson, who took Harrison Ford for all he was worth and then some. It would appear to be the same here, because Shania Twain is Shania Twain and Mutt Lange is...who?

But I think it might be different in this case. Before Shania had even left Canada, Mutt was a pretty big deal as a producer. He produced the two best-selling AC/DC records, including Back in Black, the second-highest selling record ever. He produced (and co-wrote) four Def Leppard records which sold 27 million copies in the US alone, before "hair metal" ceased to exist. He wrote "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," which is still "popular" to this day. He wrote "Do You Believe in Love," the song that introduced Huey Lewis to the world. Oh, and he co-wrote and produced Shania Twain's entire discography.

This all may not seem like anything, but, if you know how music royalties work, you make more money for writing a song than performing it. Mutt has hundreds of millions records sold with him as a songwriter; Shania's got about half that. Needless to say, Mutt's got his own money.

What it all comes down to is this: if Mutt doesn't walk away from this with a lion's share of the money, he should kill his attorney.

Actually...scratch that. What it really comes down to is: Shania Twain is on the market again.

Hooray for everyone!