LimeFile: Taylor Swift
The Short Story: Taylor Swift
Birthday: December 13, 1989
Hometown: Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Famous For: Her many country song hits including Tim McGraw, Love Story, and Teardrops on My Guitar; having her winning moment interrupted by Kanye West at the 2009 MTV Music Awards; her relationship and breakup with Joe Jonas
Quick Scoop: Is good friends with fellow country singer Kellie Pickler; she was country music's best-selling artist in 2008; learned how to play guitar from a computer repairman who showed her three chords
Awards: 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards: Top New Female Vocalist. 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards: Album of the Year, Fearless; Crystal Milestone Award. 2008 American Music Awards: Favorite Female Country Artist. 2007 Country Music Awards: Horizon Award. 2007 CMT Music Awards: Breakthrough Video of the Year, Tim McGraw. 2008 CMT Music Awards: Female Video of the Year, Our Song; Video of the Year: Our Song. 2009 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year, Love Story; Female Video of the Year, Love Story. MTV Music Awards: Best Female Video, You Belong With Me. 2008 Teen Choice Awards: Breakout Artist. 2009 Teen Choice Awards: Female Artist; Female Album, Fearless.
Biography
Taylor Alison Swift was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1989 to Scott and Andrea Swift, a stockbroker and homemaker respectively. She has one sibling, a younger brother Austin.
Swift began singing and writing songs at age 10 and performed at events all around her hometown. Soon she joined a Saturday Night Live-inspired sketch comedy group called TheatreKids Live! run by Kirk Cremer. It wasn't long before Swift's singing talent was noticed. Her parents and Kirk Cremer began focusing on her singing. Even though an early trip to Nashville looking for representation didn't work out, soon after she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
When Swift was 14, her family moved to the outskirts of Nashville so she could focus on her emerging singing career. After playing around the city, she was signed to Big Machine Records at age 15.
Swift and her label released her first single, Tim McGraw, in 2006. Her first album titled Taylor Swift was released October 24, 2006. It went to #1 on the Country charts and stayed there for 8 weeks. It also hit #5 on the Billboard charts.
In 2007, Swift won the Breakthrough Video of the Year award at the CMT Music Awards for Tim McGraw. Later in 2007, she performed the song at the Academy of Country Music Awards with Tim McGraw in the audience. She would go on to be an opening act for Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill on the Soul2Soul 2007 Tour.
Swift released three more songs in 2007 from her debut album: Teardrops on My Guitar, Picture to Burn, and Our Song. Our Song became her first #1 song and spent six weeks at the top of the Country charts. She also released a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection. In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist for her work on debut album Taylor Swift.
In 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. It was also the biggest release in 2008 by a female artist and 4th overall. Another interesting stat: in the album's debut week, 7 songs were in Billboard's Hot 100. She also had six Top 20 songs in 2008 - which is the most ever by any artist on the Billboard charts. Some of the hit singles from the record include Love Story, White Horse, and Forever & Always. She was the best-selling country artist of 2008.
In 2008 and 2009, Swift sang at several high-profile events including game three of the World Series in Philadelphia, an episode of Saturday Night Live in which she was the youngest country singer to ever perform, and the Grammys where she performed her song Fifteen with Miley Cyrus. She also performed at the CMT awards with T-Pain and at the 2009 MTV Awards. She did her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour, in 2009. It kicked off on April 23, 2009. Many of the shows sold out in 2 minutes or less.
During 2009, Swift won Album of the Year at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards and Best Female Video at the MTV Awards. A huge media storm surrounded Swift's Best Female Video award and Kanye West's interruption of her acceptance speech. As she began, West jumped on stage and stated that Beyonce had the best video of the year. He then hopped offstage leaving Swift stunned and speechless. Later in the show, Beyonce called Swift back to the stage to complete her speech. West experienced huge backlash from the entire music community for his behavior.
Swift is also interested in acting and guest-starred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and had cameos in several films including 2009's Jonas Brother: The 3D Concert Experience and 2009's Hannah Montana: The Movie. She is making her feature film debut in 2010's Valentine's Day opposite Twilight's Taylor Lautner.
Swift's personal life made headlines when she dated Joe Jonas. She revealed on The Ellen Degeneres sShow that he dumped her over the phone. She is not linked to anyone currently.
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