Taylor Swift 2013
Origin: Wyomissing, PA
Genre:
Country
Years Active:
2006 - Present
Studio Albums:
2006: Taylor Swift
2008: Fearless
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Taylor Swift Tickets
Taylor was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1989. She has a younger brother, Austin. When she was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, Taylor began writing songs and singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. During one summer, Taylor devoted herself to writing a 350-page (unpublished) novel. She was a member of Kirk Cremer's Saturday Night Live-inspired kid's sketch comedy group, TheatreKids Live!, where she was a natural comedic talent. After seeing her perform karaoke at one of the cast parties, Cremer's mother suggested that Taylor seemed more of a natural to pursue a career in country music, rather than theatrical performing. Kirk Cremer soon leased space at a local mall and Taylor began to dazzle the crowd at weeknight performances. Eventually, she began to perform in other local open mike and karaoke nights.
When Taylor was 11, she made her first trip to Nashville, handing out a demo tape of her singing karaoke to every label in town. Her experience was less than welcoming as she faced rejection from the record labels and her peers. When she returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Her rendition of the National Anthem received a lot of attention.
Taylor began writing songs and playing a 12 string guitar when she was 12 and again she began making trips to Nashville. While in Nashville she would write songs with local songwriters. She made this trip until her family decided to move to a suburb of Nashville when she was 14. After refusing to sign with RCA for not allowing her to record her own songs at 15, Scott Borchetta of newly-formed Big Machine Records signed her on. She was the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by Sony/ATV publishing tree.
Her self-titled debut album “Taylor Swift” was released on October 24, 2006. Taylor wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It later peaked at number one at Billboard Top Country Albums and number five on the Billboard 200. It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.
She is the youngest artist in history to win Album of the Year award. Taylor was also awarded the Academy's Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music.
Taylor is also very generous, devoting time and money to charitable organizations. In Tennessee, she launched a campaign to protect children from online predators. Internet safety materials and information were distributed to students and parents across the state. In 2008, Taylor donated her pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to children’s charity. Red Cross, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, flood victims in Iowa are only a few of her sweet natured contributions.
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