Taylor Swift--Singer, Songwriter, Business Mangate

 

 

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry, she is a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century.

Swift began professional songwriting at age 14 and signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country singer. She released six studio albums under the label, four of them to country radio, starting with her 2006 self-titled album. Her next, Fearless (2008), explored country pop, and its singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" catapulted her to mainstream fame. Speak Now (2010) infused rock influences, while Red (2012) experimented with electronic elements and featured Swift's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". She departed from her country image with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album supported by the chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-flavored Reputation (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do".

Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018. She released the pop album Lover (2019) and autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020), embraced indie folk and alternative rock on 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, explored chill-out styles on Midnights (2022), and released four re-recorded albums subtitled Taylor's Version after a dispute with Big Machine. The albums spawned the number-one songs "Cruel Summer", "Cardigan", "Willow", "Anti-Hero", "All Too Well" and "Is It Over Now?". In 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour and released its top-grossing concert film. She has also directed music videos and films such as All Too Well: The Short Film (2021).

With over 200 million records sold globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians. She is the most-streamed woman on Spotify and Apple Music, the highest-grossing female performer ever, and the first billionaire with music as the main source of income. She has been featured in lists such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time and Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists. Among her accolades are 12 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), a Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Decade – 2010s), 39 Billboard Music Awards, 23 MTV Video Music Awards, three IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year awards, and 111 Guinness World Records. Swift is also a philanthropist and an advocate of artists' rights and women's empowerment. 

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), is a former homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Taylor has a younger brother, actor Austin Swift, and is of Scottish, German, and Italian descent. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, was an opera singer.

Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm that her father had purchased from one of his clients. She is a Christian. She attended preschool and kindergarten at Alvernia Montessori School, a Montessori school run by the Bernadine Franciscan sisters, before transferring to the Wyndcroft School. The family moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where Swift attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. She spent summers in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, until she was 14 years old, performing in a local coffee shop.

At age nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions. She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. Swift later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything". She spent weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music. She traveled there with her mother at age eleven to visit record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected, however, because "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."

When Swift was around 12 years old, computer repairman and local musician Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar. Cremer helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading her to write "Lucky You". In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York–based talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and met with major record labels. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift, then 13 years old, was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School before transferring to Aaron Academy after two years, which better accommodated her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated one year early. Wikipedia

[For details of her career cf., Wikipedia]