Born Taylor Alison Swift in December, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, this rising American county music star now lives with her parents in Hendersonville, TN. She cites early influences on her life and music as her grandmother, who was an opera singer, and LeAnn Rimes, another country music star. While her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's taste in music seemed to continue to head toward country music instead of opera, and she quickly developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. So, it was natural when she started writing and singing her own songs at the age of 10, her music gravitated toward country and began her love with Grand Auditorium guitars that are made of koa wood.

She began to perform around the town she lived in, Wyomissing, singing at all types of contests, festivals, and even taping her own songs at a local studio. By age 11, she had already taken her first trip to Nashville, handing out tapes and trying to land a record deal. But, it wasn't until age 13 when she was finally signed to a record label. And, even though she had been trying to get a record deal for several years, she walked away from this first one because it "wasn't where I wanted to be". She then began to play at Nashville's premier songwriter's cafe, The Bluebird Café, where Scott Brochetta of Big Machine Records found her.

Her very first single, "Tim McGraw", released in the summer of 2006, followed by her self-titled CD. Contrary to most new artists, Swift either wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on her first album, which found it's debut spot at number 19 on the Billboard charts. After it's debut, it sold more than 61,000 copies in the first week and swiftly worked it's way up to number 1 on the Billboard country charts. Since this wonderful feat, her debut album has topped the country album charts and sold over 2 million copies. Her first single, "Tim McGraw" hit #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and she even set a record on CMT for the video to the song, which lasted a whopping 30 weeks at the number one spot. She has also passed the 20 million mark for music downloads and streams on MySpace and is ranked at #15 for the most visits to her MySpace for all the different genres of music, and is the top ranked artist on MySpace right now. The phenomenial success of her first single landed her a performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2007, where she sang the song, "Tim McGraw", to the country singer who was in the audience. Since then, she has become an opening act for both Tim and his wife, Faith Hill. She has also opened for George Strait, Rascal Flatts, and Brad Paisley.

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