Famous Genealogies

Biography

Taylor Alison Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a Merrill Lynch financial adviser. He was raised in Pennsylvania and is the descendant of three generations of bank presidents. Her mother, Andrea (née Finlay), is a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Andrea spent the first ten years of her life in Singapore, before settling in Texas; her father was an oil rig engineer who worked throughout Southeast Asia. Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career. She has a younger brother, Austin, who attends the University of Notre Dame. She spent the early years of her life on an eleven-acre Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School. When Swift was nine years old, the family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. She summered at her parents' vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".

Swift's first hobby was English horse riding. Her mother put her in a saddle when she was nine months old; Swift later competed in horse shows. Her family owned several Quarter horses and a Shetland pony. At the age of nine, Swift turned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music. She traveled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything", Swift became interested in country music. She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs, Boy Scout meetings and hospitals. At the age of eleven, after many attempts, Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes's "Big Deal", and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater. This growing ambition and interest in country music began to isolate Swift from her middle school peers.

Source :  http://www.wikipedia.org/