Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house.
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was named after singer James Taylor. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a Merrill Lynch vice president.[9] He was raised in Pennsylvania, and is the descendant of three generations of bank presidents.[10][11] Her mother, Andrea Gardner (Finlay) Swift,[12][13] is a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive.[14] Swift's mother, though American, spent the first 10 years of her life in Singapore, before returning to the U.S. and settling in Texas; her own father was an engineer who worked throughout southeast Asia.[11] Swift has a younger brother named Austin.[15][16]
Swift spent the early years of her life on a Christmas-tree farm in Cumru Township, Pennsylvania.[17][18] She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia MontessoriSchool, run by Franciscan nuns,[19] before moving to the Wyndcroft School.[20] Prior to Swift moving to Tennessee, the family moved to a rented house in the suburban town ofWyomissing, Pennsylvania.[21] She attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School there.[22] Swift summered at her parents' oceanfront vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, and described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed."[23]
At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theatre and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions.[24] She also traveled regularly to Broadway for vocal and acting lessons.[25] Swift later turned her attention to country music—Shania Twain's songs made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything."[26] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, coffeehouses, fairs, karaoke contests, garden clubs, Boy Scout meetings and sporting events.[11][14][27] At the age of eleven, after many failed attempts,[28] Swift won a local talent competition and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstownamphitheater.[29]
After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure that she needed to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a music career.[30] At the age of eleven, she traveled with her mother to Nashville to submit a demo, of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers, with record labels along Music Row.[31] She received label rejections and realized that "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."[32]
When Swift was about 12 years old, a computer repairman taught Swift how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You." She had previously won a national poetry contest with a poem titled "Monster in My Closet," but now began to focus on songwriting.[35] In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based music manager Dan Dymtrow. With Dymtrow's help, Swift modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and attended meetings with major record labels.[36] After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother.[37] To help Swift break into country music her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch when she was 14, and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was 14 years old,[43] having signed an artist development deal with RCA Records.[44] Swift proceeded to work with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally and The Warren Brothers.[45][46] She eventually formed a lasting working relationship withLiz Rose. Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.[47] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.[48] Rose said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks."[49] Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 26 years and TBT Blog wish her a happy birthday
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