Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Signed to the independent Big Machine Records label in 2006, Taylor made her debut on the U.S. Billboard country charts with the release of her debut single "Tim McGraw".
Her self-titled debut album was released in late 2006, and has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA in the United States. To date, it has produced three Top Ten singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs, including the Number One single "Our Song"; all three of her singles have also reached Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was re-issued in late 2007 with a set of bonus tracks.

Contents 1 Life & career 1.1 Early Life 1.2 Debut album: Taylor Swift 1.3 Upcoming album 1.4 Other work 2 Discography 3 Awards & nominations 4 References 5 External links

Life & career

Early Life

Taylor Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and lives with her parents in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift's influences include her grandmother, who was an opera singer,[1] and LeAnn Rimes.[2] Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Taylor’s tastes always ran more toward country and she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton at an early age.[3] At the age of ten, Swift began to perform around her hometown, Wyomissing, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs, she also started writing her songs at age 10. Her first exposure to the music business consisted of recording demo tapes at a studio. At age 11, Taylor made her first trip to Nashville in hopes of obtaining a record deal by handing out a demo tape she had made of her singing along to karaoke songs. She handed this tape to receptionists at every label on Music Row.[2]
Swift signed to a record label when she was 13 years old, but walked away because it "wasn't where she wanted to be."[citation needed]
When she performed at Nashville's premier songwriters' cafe, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta. Scott signed her to his newly-formed record label, Big Machine Records.
Swift plays a Taylor Grand Auditorium acoustic guitar made of koa wood.

Debut album: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's first single, "Tim McGraw", was released to radio in Summer of 2006. On October 24, 2006, her self-titled CD was released. Swift wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 61,000 during its first week. It later peaked at No. 1 at Billboard Top Country Albums and No. 5 at Billboard 200. It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts, and has since sold over two million copies.[4] Swift has surpassed the 20 million mark for music streams on MySpace, and she is currently ranked at #15 for the most MySpace visits for all genres of music, and is MySpace's current top-ranking Country artist.[5]
Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", was released in Summer 2006. “I wrote the song in my freshman year of high school,” she says. “I was dating a guy named Brandon Borello, and I was about to move. I knew we were going to break up so I started thinking of all the things that I knew would remind him of me. Surprisingly, the first thing that came to mind was that my favorite country artist is Tim McGraw.”[6] "Tim McGraw" peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for the week of January 27, 2007. The song's music video set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show,[7] and reached #1 on CMT's video charts; the video also won Swift a "Breakthrough Video of the Year" at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel.
On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.[8] On August 21, 2007, Taylor Swift performed live on the season finale of America's Got Talent.[9]
Taylor Swift prides herself on writing or co-writing every song on her album. She has written "over 200 songs" and has been writing since age 12.[citation needed] [1]
In October 2007 Swift's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter / Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.[10]
On November 7, 2007, Swift won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed "Our Song", which would go on to become her first No. 1 song the week of December 22, 2007.
Taylor also recorded a holiday album "Sounds of the Season" that was released October 16, 2007 and exclusive to Target stores. While not as successful as her self-titled debut, the album featured both holiday classics such as "Last Christmas", and songs that she has written herself.
She has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist.

Upcoming album

Swift's second studio album is slated for a fall 2008 release. In a repeat of her debut album, Swift is expected to have at least a co-writing credit on every track; John Rich and Colbie Caillat contributed writing to the album's early songs, according to Billboard Magazine.[11]

Other work

On September 21, 2007, Swift launched a campaign to protect children from online predators.[12] Swift has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.[12]
The year-long campaign, launched in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.[12]

Discography

Further information: Taylor Swift discography

Awards & nominations

Year Award Category Result

2007	CMT Music Awards	Breakthrough Video of the Year for "Tim McGraw"	Won
2007	Academy of Country Music Awards	Top New Female Vocalist	Nominated
2007	Country Music Association Awards	Horizon Award	Won
2007	American Music Awards	Favorite Female Country Artist	Nominated
2008	Grammy Awards	Best New Artist	Nominated