Today, on her birthday, we celebrate US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, born in 1989.
The singer showed an interest in music as a child, in fact, at only 11 years of age she sang The Star-Spangled Banner before a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game, and by the following year she had already started playing guitar and writing songs – at only twelve years of age. Exactly two years later, in 2004, Taylor Swift signed her first record deal – as a songwriter – with Sony/ATV.
Her first single, Tim McGraw – inspired by a song by Swift’s favourite country artist – was an instant hit, the first of many. A few years later, in 2007, Taylor Swift was certified with her first platinum record, having sold more than a million copies in the US, and opened for artists such as George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
From here, his career began an incredible ascent, and with the album Fearless (recorded in 2008) he began to move closer to the world of pop music, while maintaining his country roots. Her singles You Belong with Me and Love Story achieved worldwide success, and in 2009, Taylor Swift realised her dream of embarking on her first tour. Fearless was also awarded Album of the Year by the Academy of Country Music and subsequently the video for You Belong with Me was also honoured at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA). On this very occasion, during her speech, Swift was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who protested that the award should have gone to Beyoncé for what he described as one of the best videos of all time.
Over the years, Swift has continued to make many musical hits. In 2014, she released 1989, an album dedicated to the year of her birth and inspired by the music of that era. Of all the songs it was the single Shake It Off that was the most successful, so Taylor Swift – once again – topped the charts.
During the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift was the most nominated artist, with 13 nominations, and obvs the most awarded.
A year later Forbes crowned her as the world’s highest paid celebrity with $170 million earned in the last year alone, then in 2019 estimated at $360 million. Also in 2019 she was named ‘Artist of the Decade’ by the American Music Awards and ‘Woman of the Decade’ by Billboard.
Today we celebrate the career of Taylor Swift, the artist who has broken every record, including the one previously held by Whitney Houston of 46 weeks on the same chart. She occupies third place as the artist with the most weeks in the top spot in history, only behind The Beatles and Elvis.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TAYLOR SWIFT: A CAREER FULL OF SUCCESS AND AWARDS
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- SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 14: US singer Taylor Swift performs on stage during the Sound Relief concert at Sydney Cricket Ground on March 14, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The Melbourne and Sydney simultaneous concerts have been organised to raise funds for victims of the recent Victorian bushfires and Queensland floods, with profits split equally between the two causes. (Photo by Graham Denholm/WireImage)
