Sunday, March 13, 2011

taylor swift

country pop,singer-songwriter, musician and actress,oh !!! this is different...........
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop[1] singer-songwriter, musician 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.[5] Fearless topped the Billboard 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks;[6] no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009.[7] Swift released her third album Speak Now on October 25, 2010 which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.
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[8] and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million.[9] Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.[10] In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 33 million digital tracks sold.[11] As of February 2011, she has sold over 19 million albums and 33 million singles worldwide.[12]

                                   


Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 to Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. She was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Her maternal grandmother, Majorie Finlay, was an opera singer.[13][14] Swift has a younger brother, Austin.[15]
When she was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet".[14][16] When Swift was 10, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You".[17] She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. She was a victim of bullying, and often wrote songs to express her emotions.[18] Swift also started performing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. When she was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished.[19] Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair.[20] Swift attended Hendersonville High School but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high-school diploma.[21]
Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain.[22] Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and her grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer,[23] Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton.[24] She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact you can make by "stretching boundaries".[25]

Music career

2000–05: Musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town,[26] but was rejected.[27] After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.[28] Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.[29]
When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal.[30] After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta,[31] who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.[32]

2006–10: Taylor Swift, Fearless, and 2009 MTV VMA incident

2010–present: Speak Now

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary."[97] For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas,[98] while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy who she toured with in the past.[97] "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her."[99] She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to."[100] She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.[101]
The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them."[102] Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans."[103] The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".[104]

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008.[105] Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend.[106] Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers.[107] Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in Hannah Montana: The Movie credited as "woman singing in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America.[108] The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals.[109] Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.[110] In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film Valentine's Day. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout.[111]

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject.[112] She was included in People's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists.[113][114] Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list[115] and number thirty-one on the 2010 list.[116] CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".[117] Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change".[118] She was nominated as a candidate for Time's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting.[119] People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.[120]

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.[121] Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.[122] Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.[123] However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line."[124] In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.[125]
In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest.[126] Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.[127][128][129]

Philanthropy

 
 
Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie
On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators.[130] She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.[130] The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.[130] In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June, 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.[131]
Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.[132] Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".[133] Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign.[134] Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,[135] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.[136] Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.[137] On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.[138]
On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with.[139] Swift has donated a pair of her shoes - a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole - to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.
In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.[140]

Filmography

Year Film/TV show Role Notes
2007 America's Got Talent Herself Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2009 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience Herself Cameo
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Haley Jones Episode: "Turn, Turn, Turn"
Hannah Montana: The Movie Girl Singing at the Barn Cameo
Saturday Night Live Herself Host/Musical Guest
Dancing with the Stars Herself Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010 Valentine's Day Felicia Movie acting debut
Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless Herself Main Role
Dancing with the Stars Herself Guest; Episode: 200th episode
Awards are uncountable for me........but you can try........... 

 


 

 

 


 

 


 

 
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