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Taylor Alison Swift » Biography
Taylor Swift - the super nice, super talented country music singer songwriter. it's a name nearly everyone is familiar with now. She has been in the business for 2 years, and already has a nearly triple platinum debut album, numerous award nominations, and another album on the way. Her voice is smooth and clear, and her fans can relate to the songs she writes, about teenage love and breakups. Everything began in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1989, when Taylor Alison Swift. The first child born to Scott and Andrea Swift, everyone knew Taylor was going to be famous from the moment she could talk. Taylor grew up on a Christmas Tree Farm with her parents and her younger brother, Austin. Taylor's biggest influences in her life were her grandmother, who was an opera singer, Faith Hill, and Leann Rimes. If it was up to her mother, Taylor wouldn't be in the country music industry today, she would be in horse shows. But Taylor had something else in her mind. At the age of 10, Taylor started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.
When Taylor was 11, she made her first trip to Nashville, hoping she would get a record deal. As she has said in numerous interviews, she would "walk up to every major record label on music row and be like, 'Hey, I'm Taylor, I'm 11, I want a record deal, call me!'". She brought her little demo tape with her to each one, with karaoke songs she recorded such as songs by The Dixie Chicks and Leann Rimes. Everyone on Music Row was sweet to her, and they all took her demo tapes, but her dreams of getting a record deal didn't happen. Taylor returned to her home, but her dreams weren't crushed. When she was 12, she got her first guitar, a 12-string. She then started to write songs. Her first song was called Lucky You, and she wrote it at the age of 13. She then moved to Nashville with her family, in real hopes of making the big time. Every day after school, she would go downtown, write with co-writers such as Liz Rose, and go home and do her schoolwork. She wrote about typical teenage problems, boys, friends, and other things of the like. Taylor was also featured in an Abercrombie & Fitch Rising Stars campaign.
Finally, Taylor was in the right place at the right time. She was performing at The Bluebird Café, one night in downtown Nashville, when Scott Borchetta, who had just opened up a new record label, discovered Taylor. He signed her onto his record label. "The reason I signed Taylor was because," says Scott, he pauses, thinks for a moment, and continues, "because I had to". Taylor went into the studio at the age of 15 to start recording her debut album. Taylor was invited to play at the CMA Music Festival in June 2006. She played at the river front stages and later stayed to sign autographs. Her favorite thing to do is stay behind and sign autographs, because she knows what it feels like to be the little girl waiting in line. Taylor's first single was called Tim McGraw, which hit radio stations on June 19, 2006. Taylor wrote this song with co-writer Liz Rose, and didn't think it would go on her album, or be a single. But she played it for her record label and they knew it would be a hit. The video for the song came out in July of 2006, which aired on GAC and CMT. The song was a success, and Taylor's album came out on October 24, 2006, titled Taylor Swift. The album sold more than 60,000 copies in it's first week of being on stands, and it came in at number 19 on sales charts. The video for Tim McGraw was still going strong, it had been on GAC's Top 20 Countdown for 30 weeks straight. Taylor appeared on The Jay Leno Show on January 13, 2007 performing Tim McGraw.
Taylor was nominated for a CMT Award in 2007, Breakthrough Video of the Year, for Tim McGraw. The CMT Awards are fanvoted, and she let everyone she could know about her nomination. She posted blogs about it on her music myspace, where she has over 67,000 friends. The fans responded to her blogs and announcements, and began voting. On April 16, 2007, Taylor won. Her acceptance speech consited of a shout out to her "myspace people". She then promised that she would bring it to every autograph signing line she did when she was out on the road with Brad Paisley in the spring, summer, and fall of 2007. Whenever Taylor signed autographs, fans would pass her award down the line and get to take pictures with it. Taylor says that since the fans voted, they should be able to see it.
Later that year, when Taylor attended the announcements of the nominees for the CMA Awards, she was shocked to hear that she was nominated for the Horizon Award. The CMA Awards aired live on November 7, 2008, and when Carrie Underwood announced that Taylor won, she ran up to the stage, started giving her acceptance speech, and when she talked about how the fans have changed her life, she started crying and held up her award in the air. She also performed Our Song on the awardd. But the success for that year didn't end, even though there was only one month left. She wrapped up her tour with Brad Paisley, and then went to the announcements of the Grammy nominees on December 6. Her name was called for Best New Artist, and she was completely shocked! Taylor's 18th birthday came a few weeks later, and she had a birthday party in Nashville, where everything was pink and everyone from Kellie Pickler, to John Rich, to her best friend Abigail, to her parents, attended. She even got a birthday card from Reba McEntire. Her record label surprised Taylor with a bubble gum pink pickup truck, which she later donated to Kyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang, and the truck was later displayed at Sound and Speed in Nashville on January 12. Taylor also recorded a Christmas album, which came out in October. It included classics such as White Christmas, Silent Night, with a new arrangement, and a few new ones that Taylor wrote herself.
The Grammys aired in February, and although she didn't win, she looked stunning at the awards and it was an honor to be nominated anyway. She attended many Grammy parties and perform, and got to appear on the Ellen show the day of the Grammys, talking about her nomination, boys, and what she looks like in the morning. Later that month she did a photoshoot for Blender Magazine, and the new issue came out in March, with her on the cover, being only the second country artist ever to appear on the cover, following Leann Rimes.
Now Taylor is currently nominated for 3 ACM Awards, including Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Her video, Our Song, earned her two nominations, and wins, at the 2008 CMT Awards, for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. The director of the video, Trey Fanjoy, was up for for Director Of the Year, and Tyler Hilton, who played Drew in Teardrops On My Guitar, was up for Guest Role of the Year. But the dream year is still not over. Taylor is currently on tour with Rascal Flatts, and is doing some headlining shows here and there. She is currently recording her new album, which is set to be released in October of this year. She has written songs with her usual co-writers for this album, as well as Colbie Caliat, and John Rich. But she says she will be doing more of the writing on her own, because when she is on tour she can't call up her co-writers to come help her write. Taylor is a truly blessed artist, and she adds, "You only get so many firsts, every one is a blessing".