Friday, 3 June 2011 23:34
Taylor Swift is the first female solo country artist to have written or co-written all the songs on her Platinum-selling debut. With her beauty-pageant looks and surprisingly seasoned country vocal style, Taylor stole hearts of millions of people in 2006 with her hit song "Tim McGraw," recorded when she was still 16 years old.
Born Taylor Alison Swift on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Taylor started writing songs and singing them at small functions around her hometown at the tender age of 10. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.
At age 15, Taylor rejected a record deal from RCA Records but was signed by Scott Borchetta who had started a new recording company called Big Machine Records. Her first single "Tim McGraw" was released in 2006, inspired by her favorite country artist of the same name. The song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts and appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, selling more than 2.5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including "Our Song," a No. 1 country music hit. "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture to Burn," and "Should've Said No" were also successful tracks.
In 2007 Taylor received the Songwriter/Artist of the Year award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, which made her the youngest performer in history to win the said award. Swift also received a nomination for Best New Artist in the 2008 Grammy Awards.
In November 2008, Taylor released her sophomore album, 'Fearless'. The singles "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" soared to the top of the Billboard charts, earned Taylor various awards including the 2010 Grammy for Album of the Year, and it ultimately became the best-selling album of 2009. Forbes ranked her 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan lists Taylor as the top-selling digital artist in music history with over 24.3 million digital tracks sold.
Taylor made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the 2010 film
Valentine’s Day. She also released the track "Today Was a Fairytale," which was featured on the soundtrack for the film, as a digital download on iTunes. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart.
On October 25, 2010 Taylor released her third album, 'Speak Now.' The single "Mine" hit the top of the iTunes chart in just a few hours of release and the album staggeringly sold over one million copies in its first week alone.
