Taylor Swift Biography

NAME: Taylor Swift

OCCUPATION: Singer

BIRTH DATE: December 13, 1989 (Age: 21)

EDUCATION: Hendersonville High School

PLACE OF BIRTH: Wyomissing, Pennsylvania

Singer, songwriter, musician. Born Taylor Alison Swift on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years on her family's Christmas tree farm. Her grandmother had been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

Although her album came out in October 2006, it was 2007, that was really a career year for Taylor Swift. As mentioned above, her album reached the No. 1 spot on the charts, and did so well that her label decided to re-package it with some video content, a few more songs, and release it as a Deluxe Limited Edition. Fans could listen to several new songs, watch all the videos released up until that time, plus watch a movie edited by Taylor herself.

In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category, and won the Academy of Country Music's "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award, the American Music Awards "Favorite Female Country Artist" award, and the American Music Association's "Horizon" award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album, Fearless (2008), which hit the top of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

In 2009, Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards. On September 13, 2009, Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," making her the first country music star to win an MTV Video Music Award. The win stirred controversy when rapper Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift's speech, took the microphone, and declared that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won Swift's award. The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for "Best Video of the Year" later in the show, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately, and made a public apology on The Jay Leno Show.Swift kicked off 2010 by contributing two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack. She also made a cameo in the film, playing the high-school sweetheart of her real-life boyfriend, Taylor Lautner. Swift then focused her attention on wrapping up her third album, Speak Now, which she'd written entirely on her own throughout the two previous years.

In November 2010, Speak Now sold more than 1 million copies its first week out to debut at No. 1 on both Billboard's country and all-genres albums charts. Swift embarked on a world tour in February 2011 that took her to countries throughout southeastern Asia and western Europe and continued across the United States and Canada. That same year, the Academy of Country Music proclaimed her its entertainer of the year in a fan-voted poll. She won video of the year honors at the 2011 CMT Music Awards for "Mine."

Taylor Swift Awards:

2010 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Female Artist - Winner

2009 Grammy: Best Female Country Vocal Performance - Winner

2009 Grammy: Best Country Song - Winner

2009 Grammy: Best Country Album - Winner

2009 Grammy: Album of the Year - Winner

2009 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year - Winner

2009 CMT Music Awards: Female Video of the Year - Winner

2009 CMT Music Awards: Wide Open Country Video of the Year - Nominee

2009 CMT Music Awards: CMT Performance of the Year - Nominee

2008 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year - Winner

2008 CMT Music Awards: Female Video of the Year - Winner

2007 CMT Music Awards: Breakthrough Video of the Year - Winner

2010 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year - Nominee

2010 CMT Music Awards: Female Video of the Year - Nominee

2010 CMT Music Awards: Collaborative Video of the Year - Nominee

2011 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Country Artist - Winner

2011 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year - Winner

2011 CMT Music Awards: Female Video of the Year - Nominee

2011 CMT Music Awards: Best Web Video of the Year - Nominee