Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and was nominated for the Best New Artist award at 50th Grammy Awards. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless, and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Fearless and Taylor Swift finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009. Swift is set to release her third album Speak Now on October 25, 2010.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Forbes ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the top-selling digital artist in music history with over 28 million digital tracks sold. As of January 2010, she has sold over 10 million albums worldwide.

Swift was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania as the first of two children born to Andrea (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Swift, a stockbroker. Her grandmother was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet".

At the age of ten, Swift began writing songs and singing them at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. When she was 12 years old, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma through homeschooling at the age of 18.

Swift began learning to play guitar from a computer repairman who showed her how to play three chords. After learning those three chords, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Other kids would react badly to her so she wrote songs about them.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact you can make by "stretching boundaries".  (per wiki)