10 min.
BECOMING MISS AMERICANA
Born on 13 December 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, Taylor Alison Swift came into the world destined for greatness. Her parents gave her the androgynous name Taylor (after the American singer-songwriter James Taylor) in the hope that it might further her chances of success.
Taylor spent much of her childhood in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She lived with her parents, Scott and Andrea, and her younger brother, Austin, at the family Christmas tree farm. “I had the most magical childhood,” Taylor told Rolling Stone in 2009, “Running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head.” The family had horses too, which Taylor rode competitively, but she, like many other little kids, was also obsessed with fairytales, Disney songs, and – of course, inevitably – with music.
Taylor’s maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay,…
