Taylor Swift: Country Music Star!

Chelsi, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 5, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Taylor Swift is tearing up the country charts. In the summer of 2006, she released her first single Tim McGraw. It became a huge hit, and has taken her all around the country. But it didn't come without hard work and dedication - and also at least a little bit of talent.

Born in December of 1989, this singer/songwriter is only sixteen years old. She's at an age when most teenagers are only beginning to try to figure out what they want to do with life. Music is in her genes, though. Her grandmother was a professional opera singer, and Taylor credits her as one of her biggest inspirations.

Taylor was born in Wyomissing Pennsylvania, and began performing young. When she was only ten years old, she was performing in karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs - just working to get her name out there and do what she loved to do. It paid off because at age eleven, she got the opportunity to perform at the half-time show for a Philadelphia 76ers game. She continued with her musical interest and learned to play the guitar at age twelve and began writing songs. She says that when she was thirteen, she wrote one song every day. While she was performing at places around Pennsylvania, her family also took trips to Nashville, Tennessee for her to sing to different groups. She was fortunate enough, during these visits, to be able to write with some local songwriters. After a few trips to Tennessee, her family decided to move to the suburbs of Nashville, further developing her career.

While playing shows in Nashville, she caught the eye of Scott Borchetta, an executive from Big Machine Records. He wanted to sign her to the label and she accepted. She recorded her self-titled album, Taylor Swift, and released her first single Tim McGraw, a song about summer love, in the summer of 2006. The video was released in July, and the album was released in October. Upon the release of the United States release of the album, Taylor proceeded to nearly a million copies, earning herself a gold album. Sixty-one thousand of those sells were in the first week. It earned her a spot at number nineteen on the sales chart. Currently, her second single, Teardrops on my Guitar is tearing up the country charts.

Along with all of these accomplishments, she's also had the opportunity to tour with large country names, Rascal Flatts and George Straight. Hard work has definitely paid off for this young professional, but she still has a lot more ahead of her.

Published by Chelsi

I am a twenty-four year old starving artist music junkie, and a proud CoMolian. I love writing, I love music, and I love you. View profile

Taylor Swift: Country Music Star!

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