Tanguay went to the United States with her parents at an early age, obtained her first stage role at age eight, and later acted in variety, stock troupes, and musical comedy. At the turn of the century, she shocked audiences with her scanty costume and her risqué songs, such as "I Don't Care." As vaudeville's (vaudeville) emphasis shifted from sentiment to sex in the early 1900s, Eva Tanguay became the highest paid single performer in vaudeville, but she lost her fortune during the stock market crash of 1929, and she spent the remaining two decades of her life a bedridden recluse.