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Taylor Swift, born on December 13, 1989, has everything that it takes to be a country music star. She’s beautiful, talented, good-natured, and though she is delicate and sweet with her flowing blond curls, the singer/songwriter and guitarist also possesses a surprising bold side that has driven her to the absolute top. But it’s not country music alone that she dominates these days. The artist has proven to be hip, fresh and versatile, and has a style that jives in the young world of pop as well.

Some people only dream of knowing their true, ideal profession, but Swift knew by the age of 10 that being a country music star was the only answer for her. Around her home state of Pennsylvania, she spent weekends performing at county fairs, festivals and even doing karaoke to gain experience and exposure. One of her milestone moments during her youth was when she kicked off a Philadelphia 76ers game singing the American national anthem. The ambitious girl took up the guitar at age 12, practicing hours upon end each day, and then learned to couple her 6-string with the art of songwriting.

In 2004, through the support of her family, Swift, who was then 13, moved from her hometown of Wyomissing, PA to a city called Hendersonville, Tennessee, on the outskirts of Nashville, the country music capital of the US. Initially, she thought she would make it in the industry by dropping off demos to big record companies on Music Row, with the hopes that they would one day discover her talents. But she soon realized the secret to success required being exceptional and having an edge. So by the age of 14, she strived harder and landed a job as a songwriter working for Sony/ATV, and simultaneously carried out her freshman year in high school as a straight-A student.  Thereafter, she opted to be homeschooled in order to focus on her budding music career.

It was at the Bluebird Café where Swift became a regular act and was discovered by Scott Borchetta, an influential man in the business who was looking to start his own label. Borchetta took a leap of faith signing Swift on, but would later learn that his intuition steered him and his company, Big Machine Records, towards the jackpot.

Swift began writing music in collaboration with songwriter Liz Rose for her debut album titled Taylor Swift, which was released in 2006. Her career took off when she dropped three smash singles off the album between 2006 and 2007, those being Tim McGraw, Teardrops on My Guitar, and Our Song.

Not too long after her debut, Swift began to reap the rewards of her accomplishments, including an induction into at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007 (for Tim McGraw and Teardrops on My Guitar) as Artist of the Year, a Country Music Television’s video music award (for Tim McGraw), and CMA’s most prestigious award, the CMA Horizon Music Award.

The songwriting process for her next album, Fearless, took place in early 2008 for a release set for the fall, by which time her first album certified triple-platinum and has since surpassed quadruple-platinum status. 8 out of the 13 tracks featured were written by Swift alone, and she commented that this album would be more personal and uncensored with regard to her personal life, the essential fuel to her lyrics. Another sweet surprise on the disc was her collaboration with young sensation Colbie Caillat on the song Breathe.

Lo and behold, Swift pleased her fans again with her upbeat number-one single, Love Story, which was made into a romantic video based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Swift, who was portrayed as the lovely, singing Juliet, became the shining star of the 2009 CMT Music Awards, when she won the ultimate prize for Best Video of the Year, in addition to Best Female Video of the Year.

Taylor Swift is currently the fourth highest-paid country star according to Forbes, and has set the record for selling the most albums in 2008, beating all other recording artists. This summer, she sets forth promoting Fearless on her North American tour, which includes double-headline shows with the famous Keith Urban.