|
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
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 for
selling more than two million copies 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.
In 2007, Swift won the Country Music
Association's Horizon Award, which is awarded to up-and-coming country
music acts. She has been nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best
New Artist.
****
Background information
Birth name Taylor Alison Swift
Born December 13, 1989 (1989-12-13) (age
18)
Origin Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, USA
Genre(s) Country
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 2006 – present
Label(s) Big Machine
Associated
acts Tim McGraw, Kellie Pickler, Brad
Paisley
Website Taylor Swift Official Site
****
Biography and career
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] 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.
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. The album, on which Swift wrote or co-wrote
all of the songs, debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold more
than 61,000 during its first week. In 2007, it peaked at No. 1 at
Billboard Top Country Albums and No. 8 at Billboard 200. It also spent
eight consecutive weeks at the top of Top Country Albums.[4] Swift has
surpassed the 20 million mark for music streams on MySpace, she was able
to rise to the top. where she is currently ranked at #15 for the most
MySpace visits for all genres of music. 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 is currently touring with Brad Paisley
and has opened in the past for George Strait 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
cowriting each song on her album. She has written "over 200 songs" and
has been writing since age 12.[citation needed]
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.
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
References
1.
^ Taylor Swift Biography at GAC
2.
^ a b Life in the Swift Lane
3.
^ Taylor Swift at Ask Men.com
4.
^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?g=Albums&f=Top+Country+Albums
5.
^ Taylor Swift reaches No. 1 on
the Top Country Albums chart
6.
^ Taylor Swift at Ask Men.com
7.
^ Taylor Swift at Beasley
Performing Arts Coliseum
8.
^ Taylor Swift Joins Tim McGraw,
Faith Hill on Tour
9.
^ Taylor Swift performs on
"America's Got Talent"
10.
^ Cooper, Peter; Aronin, Ivan.
"It's writers' turn to be honored for songs", The Tennessean,
2007-10-15. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
11.
^ Major Details On The Top
Albums Coming Out in 2008: Taylor Swift, Metallica, Usher, Mariah
Carey, Lil Wayne and moreJanuary 2, 2007
12.
^ a b c Taylor Swift Warns Kids
About Internet Crime
* * * *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has beenmodified under
the GNU Free Document License Section 5 in the
following manner: (1) All links within the article
have been removed, including text links such as
"[#]"; (2) The "[Edit]" text and link have been
removed [if you would like to update the article,
you may do so from the original page]; (3) the table
of Contents links and text have been removed; and
(4) all of the sections of the original article have
not been copied. All of the above text is available
under the terms of the
GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift
Date Article Copied:
January 2008
We
will try to replace this article with an original
biography in the near future, but we hope this will
be of help to our visitors in the mean time. |
