MySpace Hottie of the day - Taylor Swift

Today, let's meet Taylor Swift, a country music singer originally from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania but now living in Nashville, Tennessee. Taylor has been singing all her life, motivated by her grandmother, who was a professional opera singer. She began performing locally around her town and county at the age of ten, and at age 11 sang the national anthem before a Philadelphia 76ers game. By the time she was 12, she had picked up the guitar and began practicing several hours each day, until her fingers started to bleed. Taylor's parents began to support her music, and recognized her talent, perseverance, and budding future as a professional musician. The family began making regular visits to Nashville, Tennessee, where Taylor would perform casually and meet with songwriters in the area. The family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb, which accelerated her career. While performing at a showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Café, Taylor caught the eye of music industry veteran Scott Borchetta. He had plans to create a new label and decided Taylor was one of the first acts he wanted to sign. Still a high school student fascinated by love (which she uses as her muse), she released her debut single, "Tim McGraw," in August, 2006, followed by a self-titled album that October. The album, on which she wrote or co-wrote all of the songs, debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 61,000 during its first week. In 2007, it peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and #8 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. It also spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums chart.

"Tim McGraw" peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for the week of January 27, 2007. The song's music video set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show, and reached #1 on CMT's video charts; the video also won Taylor a "Breakthrough Video of the Year" at the 2007 CMT Music Awards.

Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel, Great American Country.

On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Taylor has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She is currently touring with Brad Paisley and has opened in the past for George Strait and Rascal Flatts as well.

In October, 2007 Taylor's songwriting peers at the Nashville Songwriters Association International honored her with their Songwriter / Artist of the Year Award, making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. On November 7, 2007, Swift won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award and also performed "Our Song".

Her self-titled debut album has been certified platinum by the RIAA for selling more than one million copies in the United States; to date, the album has produced three Top Ten singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, all three of which have also reached Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her second album is about to be recorded and planned for a 2008 release.

If you would like to know more about this budding young country music superstar or listen to tracks from her debut album, check out her profile at http://www.myspace.com/taylorswift.