aylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She’s named after musician James Taylor. She spent her early years with her parents Scott and Andrea and her brother Austin living on a Christmas tree farm. She attended a Montessori school for preschool and kindergarten and moved to The Wyndcroft School for first grade.
When Taylor was nine, she got interested in musical theatre. She also enrolled in vocal and acting lessons in New York City. She first got into country music because she was a fan of Shania Twain. She performed at local events and festivals as a tween and teen. Eventually, she became convinced she needed to go to Nashville and she and her mom went and submitted Taylor’s early demo of Dolly Parton and The Chicks covers. Record labels didn’t think she was original enough and Taylor left Nashville without a record deal.
When she was 12, she learned how to pay the guitar and wrote “Lucky You.” When Swift was 14, her family moved to Nashville to give her a better chance of breaking into music. Swift started working with music manager Dan Dymtrow in 2003. He was instrumental in getting Swift a modeling gig for the “Rising Stars” campaign by Abercrombie & Fitch and got one of her original songs included on a compilation CD from Maybelline. After performing her original songs at showcase for RCA Records, Swift was signed to an artist development deal.