Taylor Swift

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Scott Kingsley Swift, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser, and Andrea (née Gardner), a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career. Her only sibling, a younger brother named Austin, is currently a student at Vanderbilt University. She spent the early years of her life on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm near Pottstown, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School. When Swift was nine, her family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. Swift spent her summers at her parent's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".

At the age of nine, Swift developed an interest in theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music. She travelled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything”, Swift turned her attention to country music. She was inspired by LeAnn Rimes's Blue and her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of eleven, after many attempts, Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes’s “Big Deal”, and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater. She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs and Boy Scout meetings. Swift recorded a demo of karaoke covers, and travelled with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee for spring break, leaving a copy of the demo with record labels along Music Row. She received label rejections and realised that "I needed to know how to do something more than just sing a song".
 

Swift began performing the national anthem at many sporting events in an attempt to create record label interest. On one occasion, an 11-year-old Swift high-fived Jay-Z after singing the national anthem at a 76ers game in Philadelphia. At the age of 12, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You". She then recorded a second demo of original songs. In 2003, Swift and her parents began working with music manager Dan Dymtrow, after he spotted her singing at the US Open. Swift's second demo caught the attention of RCA Records, who offered the eight-grader an artist development deal. In 2004, Swift modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign and had an original song included in a Maybelline Cosmetics compilation CD.
 

When Swift was 14, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lake-shore house in Hendersonville, Tennessee Swift has said her parents "presented it as a move to a nice community" rather than as her chance to become a star. Her mother has said, "We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true." In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore year. Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services, and earned her high school diploma in 2008.

Source article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift