Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named ''Artist of the Year'' by ''Billboard'' Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album ''Speak Now'' on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''Forbes'' ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for 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 May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the ''Taylor Swift'' album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released ''Beautiful Eyes'', an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on ''Fearless'' were charted on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on ''Fearless'', 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on ''Romeo and Juliet''. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from ''Fearless'', "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is ''Billboard'''s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, ''Fearless'', she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for ''Fearless''. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM ''Album of the Year'' award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of ''The Jay Leno Show''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album ''Fearless'' namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. ''Fearless'' was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, ''Billboard'' revealed that Swift's new album is called ''Speak Now''. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." ''The New York Times'' described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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name	Zac Efron
birth name	Zachary David Alexander Efron
birth date	October 18, 1987
birth place	San Luis Obispo, California
occupation	Actor, singer
yearsactive	2002–present }}

Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron (born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and became known to young audiences after his roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie ''High School Musical'', the WB series ''Summerland'', and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical ''Hairspray''. In 2007, before the release of ''High School Musical 2'', ''Rolling Stone'' declared him the "poster boy for tweenyboppers" and featured him in their late August 2007 issue. Efron has since starred in the films ''17 Again'', ''Me and Orson Welles'', and ''Charlie St. Cloud'', and is due to star in ''New Year's Eve'' and ''The Lucky One''.

Early life

Background

Efron was born in San Luis Obispo, California, and later moved to Arroyo Grande, California. His father, David Efron, is an electrical engineer at a power station, and his mother, Starla Baskett, is a former secretary who worked at the same power plant. Efron has a younger brother, Dylan, and had, as he described it, a "normal childhood" in a middle class family. He is an agnostic, having never been religious. His surname, "Efron", means "lark" in Hebrew (his paternal grandfather was Jewish).

Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and has also described himself as having been a class clown. His father encouraged him to begin acting when he was 11 years old. Efron subsequently appeared in theater productions at his high school, worked in the theater The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville, and began taking singing lessons. He performed in shows such as ''Gypsy''; ''Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up''; ''Little Shop of Horrors''; and ''The Music Man''. He was recommended to an agent in Los Angeles by his drama teacher, Robyn Metchik (the mother of actors Aaron Michael Metchik and Asher Metchik). Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.

Education

Efron graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2006 and was then accepted into the University of Southern California, but has deferred his enrollment to work on film projects. He also attended Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, a community college located in Santa Maria, California, which provided him with the opportunity to perform as a "young player" during the years of 2000 and 2001.

Career

Early work

In 2002, Efron began to appear in guest roles on several television series, including ''Firefly'', ''ER'', and ''The Guardian''. He portrayed Cameron Bale on the now-cancelled WB series ''Summerland''. Originally introduced as a recurring character, Efron became a regular cast member on the show in the second season in 2004, starring opposite the likes of Kay Panabaker, Lori Loughlin and Jesse McCartney. Since appearing in ''Summerland'', he has also had guest roles on the shows ''CSI: Miami'', ''NCIS'', ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and ''The Replacements''. In 2003, Efron starred in the Lifetime original television movie ''Miracle Run''. He played Steven Morgan, one of two autistic twins. For his performance, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-series or Special — Supporting Young Actor. In 2005, he played a main character in Hope Partlow's music video for her song "Sick Inside." Also in 2005, he played horse-loving Patrick McCardle in ''The Derby Stallion'', where his character wants to beat the town bully at the steeple chase race.

Breakthrough

In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie ''High School Musical'' as Troy Bolton, a popular student and captain of the basketball team. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations", helped Efron gain recognition among teenage audiences as both an actor and a singer, even though his singing voice was overdubbed. As a result, he placed as high as #4 on the IMDBPro's STARMeter for the week of January 29, 2006. In August 2006, Efron won a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV — Choice Chemistry categories, shared with Vanessa Hudgens. The film's cast, along with Efron, toured Sydney, Australia, London, England, and other locations to promote the film.

Shortly after ''High School Musical'' aired, on February 4, 2006, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on Billboard Hot 100 from the film: "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Breaking Free", a duet with Hudgens. On the following week's chart, Efron had five simultaneous song credits from ''High School Musical'': "Get'cha Head in the Game", "Start of Something New", "What I've Been Looking For: Reprise", "We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free." "We're All in This Together" was credited to the whole ''High School Musical'' cast. "Breaking Free", at the time, made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks; the record was beaten by Beyoncé and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar". Efron also appeared in the 2006 ''Disney Channel Games'' as captain of the Red Team.

Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that Drew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the soundtrack of ''High School Musical''. An August 23, 2007 interview in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine revealed that he had been cast in ''High School Musical'' after the songs were written, and the songs (written for a tenor) were somewhat out of his baritone vocal range.

2007 – present

On April 7, 2007, Efron appeared in an episode of ''Punk'd''. Efron also starred in the music video for Vanessa Hudgens's single "Say OK", in which he played her love interest. The video aired on March 16, 2007 on the Disney Channel. That year, he was named one of ''People'' magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007. A picture and short profile of him was in the section "Coming of Age". In it, he related how he was always the shortest kid in school (as of August 2007, he was 5'8") and was teased for the "huge gap" in his teeth.

In 2006, Efron was cast as Link Larkin in a film version of ''Hairspray'' released on July 20, 2007. Efron performed all of his own vocals in the role, which was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, from September 5 to December 2, 2006. He cut and dyed his hair dark brown and gained about 15 pounds for the role. His performance and the film received positive reviews. Efron was not able to perform with his fellow castmates in ''High School Musical: The Concert'' because of commitments on the film ''Hairspray''. Drew Seeley took over for him. ''High School Musical 2'' was released in August 2007. Additionally, Lycos reported searches for Efron surged by 81%. The film set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers. Efron also appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of ''Rolling Stone''. The article about him revealed that he hoped to someday play an action hero. Efron presented the 2007 Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" along with Queen Latifah, and later that year, he co-hosted the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.

In early 2008, Efron was cast in the lead role in the film ''Me and Orson Welles''. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of ''Julius Caesar'', where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant. The film was shot in the Isle of Man, London and New York, during February — April 2008. It was introduced to North America via the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 6, and 11, 2008 and was released in 2009. Efron was also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film ''Footloose'', and has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by Kevin Bacon. In March 2009, he dropped out of the film. Efron was quoted as saying that while it was a promising gig, he left the project because he "was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical."

Efron reprised his role in ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'', which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in 2009's ''17 Again'', a high school-set comedy-drama produced by Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi; the plot involved an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (played by Efron).

On April 8, 2009, Efron's participation in a comedic short video entitled "Zac Efron's Pool Party" for the website Funny Or Die was released for public viewing. On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In early June 2009 it was confirmed that Efron would be making a guest appearance during the sixth season of HBO's comedy series ''Entourage''.

Efron starred in a series of advertisements, along with Kristen Bell and Sean Combs, promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and the host, Aziz Ansari. In 2009, he signed on to play title character in the movie ''Charlie St. Cloud''. The film was released on July 30, 2010.

Efron was second on ''People''s 2011 Most Beautiful list.

Upcoming roles

Efron is slated to star in the title role of the live-action adaptation of the ''Jonny Quest'' cartoons. Additional projects include ''Einstein Theory'' and an adaptation of ''Fire'', by Image Comics. On February 11, 2011, it was reported that Efron will star in the action romance ''Charlie Countryman''. He is also set to star in and produce the American remake of Swedish crime film ''Easy Money''.

Personal life

Efron owns an apartment in Los Angeles, California. On January 15, 2008, he was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an emergency appendectomy. Efron was also on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008, as number 92 with an estimated earning of $5.8 million from June 2007 to June 2008. As of April 5, 2009, his personal wealth equaled about $10 million. ''People'' magazine said in 2007 that Efron and Vanessa Hudgens began dating in 2005 during the filming of ''High School Musical'', although ''Us'' magazine said, after the two broke up in December 2010, that they "met in 2005 while making the first ''High School Musical'' flick, and became a romantic item about two years later."

Filmography

+ Films	Year	Title	Role
2003	''Melinda's World''	Stuart Wasser
2003	''''	Pete Laemke
2004	''Miracle Run''	Steven Morgan
2004	''Triple Play''	Harry Fuller
2005	''''	Patrick McCardle
2006	''If You Lived Here, You'd be Home Now''	Cody
2006	''High School Musical''	Troy Bolton
2007		Link Larkin
2007	''High School Musical 2''	Troy Bolton
2008	''High School Musical 3: Senior Year''	Troy Bolton
2009		Mike O'Donnell (teen)
2009	''Me and Orson Welles''	Richard Samuels
2010		Charlie St. Cloud
2011		Paul
2012	''''	Logan Thibault
2012	''''	Ted
2012	''''	TBA

+ Television	Year	Title	Role	Episode
2002		Young Simon Tam
2003	''''	Luke Tomello	"Without Consent"
2003		Bobby Neville	"Dear Abby"
2005		Cameron Bale	16 episodes
2005	''CSI: Miami''	Seth Dawson
2005	''''	Davey Hunkerhoff	"Davey Hunkerhoff / Ratted Out"
2006		Pizza Delivery Guy	"Pilot"
2006	''''	Trevor	"Odd Couples"
2006		Danny	"Deception"
2008	''Robot Chicken''	Billy Joel	"Tell My Mom"
2009	''Robot Chicken''	Harry Potter	"I Love Her"
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Himself	2 episodes
2009		Himself	"Security Briefs"
2010	''Robot Chicken''	Anakin Skywalker	"Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III"

Awards and Nominations

! Year !! Award !! Category !! Work !! Result
2005	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Supporting Young Actor	''Miracle Run''
		Choice TV: Chemistry (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)		rowspan="3"
Choice TV: Breakout Star
	Movie Star - Male	''Himself''
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor	''High School Musical''
Young Hollywood Awards	One to Watch		rowspan="6"
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Other: Hottie - Male
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave Movie Star
Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards	Best TV Actor	''High School Musical''
Family Television Awards	Best Actor	''High School Musical 2''
Satellite Awards	Best Original Song (shared with Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelley)	''Come So Far (So Far to Go)''
	TV Star - Male	''Himself''
		Best Song (shared with Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelley)	''Come So Far (So Far to Go)''
	rowspan="2"	rowspan="3"
Palm Springs International Film Festival
		''You Can't Stop the Beat''
Favorite Star under 35	''Himself''	rowspan="4"
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Grammy Awards		rowspan="2"
Empire Awards
MTV Movie Awards	Breakthrough Performance
ASTRA Awards	Favourite International Personality or Actor	''High School Musical 2''	rowspan="3"
	Choice Other: Male Hottie
Choice Other: Red Carpet Fashion Icon - Male
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave Movie Star	rowspan="4"
	TV Star
		Breakthrough Performer of the Year
	Best Male Performance
Best Kiss (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)	rowspan="2"
	Choice Movie: Liplock (shared Vanessa Hudgens)
Choice Movie: Actor - Music/Dance
Choice Music: Album - Soundtrack (shared with ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' Cast)	''High School Musical 3: Senior Year (soundtrack)''
Choice Movie: Actor - Comedy	rowspan="5"	rowspan="3"
Choice Movie: Rockstar Moment
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Fave Movie Star
	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actor	rowspan="5"
MTV Movie Awards	Best Male Performance
	Choice Summer: Movie Actor
Choice Other: Male Hottie
Choice Other: Smile
Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards	Cutest Couple (shared with Vanessa Hudgens)	rowspan="3"
	Best TV Star - Male
	People's Choice Awards''	Favorite Movie Star Under 25	rowspan="2"
MTV Movie Awards	Best Male Performance
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Other: Red Carpet Fashion - Icon	''Himself''

Discography

Soundtracks

''Hairspray'' (2007)

''High School Musical 2'' (2007)

''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' (2008)

Charted songs

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Album
		! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"
		—	—	96	—
style="text-align:left;"	6	6	20	20
	46	35	65	—
	31	28	26	86
style="text-align:left;"	—	95	89	—
	34	31	40	—
	65	46	55	—
	style="text-align:left;"	68	41	41	92
style="text-align:left;"	108	—	—	96
style="text-align:left;"	119	—	—	—
	98	—	—	84
	101	—	—	72

References

External links

Zac Efron at TV Guide

Category:1987 births Category:Actors from California Category:American agnostics Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American film actors Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:American television actors Category:Arroyo Grande, California Category:Living people Category:People from San Luis Obispo, California

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Name	Tim McGraw
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Samuel Timothy McGraw
Birth date	May 01, 1967
Birth place	Delhi, Louisiana, U.S.
Origin	Start, Louisiana, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Country, southern rock
Occupation	Musician, actor
Years active	1992–present
Label	Curb Records
Associated acts	Faith HillThe Dancehall DoctorsNellyTaylor SwiftDef LeppardMindy McCready
Website	}}

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts, leading him to achieve total album sales in excess of 40 million units. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw.

McGraw had 11 consecutive albums debut at Number One on the ''Billboard'' albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He has won 3 Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and 3 People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music.

McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in ''The Blind Side'' (with Sandra Bullock), ''Friday Night Lights'', ''The Kingdom'', and ''Four Christmases'' (with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon), and lead roles in ''Flicka'' (2006) and ''Country Strong'' (2010). He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats. Taylor Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", refers to him and his song, "Can't Tell Me Nothin.

In honor of his grandfather's Italian heritage, McGraw was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in 2004, receiving the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the Foundation's 29th Anniversary Gala.

Early life

McGraw was born Samuel Timothy McGraw in Delhi, Louisiana, to Elizabeth "Betty" Ann D'Agostino, a waitress, and Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr., who later became a relief pitcher for the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. McGraw is of Italian and Irish descent on his mother's side, and of Scots-Irish and distant German descent on his father's side. In 1966, Tug was a pitcher for the Jacksonville Suns, and he lived in an apartment above Betty D'Agostino, who attended Terry Parker High School. The pair had a relationship, and when Betty became pregnant, her parents sent her to Louisiana to live with relatives and to have the baby.

Reared by his mother in Start, also in Richland Parish, east of Monroe, McGraw grew up believing his stepfather, Horace Smith, was his birth father. From the time of his mother's marriage until the time he met his biological father, his last name was Smith. At age 11, McGraw discovered his birth certificate while searching his mother's closet to find pictures for a school project. After his discovery, his mother revealed that his biological father was Tug McGraw, and took Tim to meet him for the first time. For seven years, Tug denied being Tim's father. Tim was 18 years old when Tug first realized how much Tim looked like him at that age, and he acknowledged paternity. They remained close until Tug's death in 2004.

As a child, Tim McGraw loved to play competitive sports, including baseball, even though he did not know his biological father was a professional athlete. He attended Northeast Louisiana University, now the University of Louisiana at Monroe, on a baseball scholarship, and became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. During his college period, he learned to play guitar, and would frequently perform and sing for tips, although he claims that his roommates often hid the guitar because he was so bad.

His mother, Betty, returned to Jacksonville, Florida in 1987, and Tim followed. He attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for one term, and occasionally sat in with local bands. In 1989, on the day his hero Keith Whitley died, McGraw dropped out of college to head to Nashville and pursue a musical career.

1990s

''Tim McGraw''

McGraw came to the attention of Curb Records in 1990. After cutting a demo single, McGraw gave a copy to his father, Tug McGraw. A man who was friends with Curb Records executives heard the demo while driving with Tug McGraw one day and recommended that Curb contact the young singer. Several weeks later, he was able to play his tape for Curb executives, after which they signed him to a recording contract. Two years later, in 1992, he had his first minor hit with "Welcome to the Club" off his self-titled debut album. Although the album failed to make much of a dent on the charts, McGraw did have two other minor hits from it in 1993: "Memory Lane" and "Two Steppin Mind".

''Not a Moment Too Soon''

His second album, ''Not a Moment Too Soon'', was much more successful, becoming the best-selling country album in 1994. The first single, "Indian Outlaw", caused considerable controversy, as critics argued that it presented Native Americans in a patronizing way. Some radio stations refused to play it, but the controversy helped spur sales, and the song became McGraw's first top-ten country single (getting as high as No. 8), and reaching No. 15 on the pop chart.

The second single from the album, "Don't Take the Girl", became McGraw's first No. 1 country hit, and "helped cement his image as a ruggedly good-looking guy with a sensitive side". The following year, the album's title track became a No. 1 country single, while "Down on the Farm" reached No. 2, and "Refried Dreams" reached the top 5. The album sold over 6 million copies, topping the Billboard 200 as well as the country album charts. On the strength of this success, McGraw won Academy of Country Music awards for Album of the Year and Top New Male Vocalist in 1994.

''All I Want''

''All I Want'', released in 1995, continued his run of success, debuting at No. 1 on the country charts. The album sold over 2 million copies and reached the top 5 on the Billboard 200. "I Like It, I Love It" reached No. 1 on the country charts as the lead-off single, while "She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart" also went to No. 1 in 1996. "Can't Be Really Gone", "All I Want Is a Life", and "Maybe We Should Just Sleep on It" were all top 5 hits.

In 1996, McGraw headlined the most successful country tour of the year, The Spontaneous Combustion Tour, with Faith Hill as his supporting act. Faith Hill broke off her engagement to her former producer Scott Hendricks so that she and Tim could start dating each other; they then married on October 6, 1996. The couple have since had three daughters: Gracie Katherine (born May 1997), Maggie Elizabeth (born August 1998), and Audrey Caroline (born December 2001).

''Everywhere''

McGraw's next album, 1997's ''Everywhere'', again topped the country charts and reached No. 2 on the album charts, selling 4 million copies. Four singles ("It's Your Love", "Everywhere", "Where the Green Grass Grows", and "Just to See You Smile") reached the top of the country charts from the album, with the last of these setting a new record by spending 42 weeks on the Billboard charts. The Country Music Association awarded ''Everywhere'' its Album of the Year award for 1997.

''A Place in the Sun

''A Place in the Sun'' in 1999 continued McGraw's streak, debuting atop both the US pop and country album charts and selling 3 million albums. It featured another four chart-topping singles on the country charts including "Please Remember Me", "Something Like That", "My Best Friend", and "My Next Thirty Years". "Some Things Never Change" reached No. 7 on the country chart. He also contributed a song for the Grammy-winning tribute album to Bob Wills: ''Ride With Bob.'' His song, a cover of "Milk Cow Blues", was recorded as a duet with Asleep at the Wheel, whom he had met while performing together at the George Strait Country Music Festival.

McGraw recorded two more duets with his wife in the late 1990s, both of which appeared on her albums. "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me", off of her multi-platinum 1998 album ''Faith'', reached the top five of the US country charts, while her follow-up and 1999 album ''Breathe'' featured "Let's Make Love", which would win a Grammy Award in 2000 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.

2000s

''Greatest Hits''

In 2000, McGraw released his ''Greatest Hits'' album, which topped the charts for nine weeks and sold almost 6 million copies, making it one of the biggest-selling albums in the modern country market. In the latter half of the year, he and Hill went out on the Soul2Soul Tour, playing to sellout crowds in 64 venues, including Madison Square Garden. It was one of the top tours of any genre in the US, and the leading country tour during 2000.

While in Buffalo, New York, McGraw and Kenny Chesney became involved in a scuffle with police officers after Chesney attempted to ride a police horse. McGraw came to Chesney's aid after police officers nearby believed the horse was being stolen and tried to arrest him. The two were arrested and charged with assault, but were later cleared. During a concert with the George Strait Country Music Festival several weeks later, Hill, dressed as a police officer, made an unscheduled appearance at the end of McGraw's set and led him off the stage.

''Set This Circus Down''

McGraw's next album, ''Set This Circus Down'', was released in April 2001, and spawned four number-one country hits: "Grown Men Don't Cry", "Angry All the Time" (with Faith Hill), "The Cowboy in Me", and "Unbroken". He provided harmony vocals for the Jo Dee Messina song "Bring On the Rain", which he also produced. The song topped the country charts.

Hungry for more of his music, fans downloaded a version of his performance of the song "Things Change" from his appearance at the Country Music Association Awards Show. The song was played extensively on radio, becoming the first country song to appear on the charts from a fully downloaded version.

''Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors''

In 2002, Tim McGraw bucked country music traditions by recording his album ''Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors'' with his tour band The Dancehall Doctors. Unlike rock music, where it is commonplace for touring bands to provide the music on albums recorded by the artist they support, country albums are typically recorded with session musicians. McGraw chose to use his own touring band, in order to recognize their part in his success, and to capture some of the feel of a real band.

All of the Dancehall Doctors have worked with McGraw since at least 1996. They include:

Darran Smith – Lead Guitar, Acoustic guitar

Bob Minner – Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic guitar, Banjo, Mandolin

Denny Hemingson – Steel Guitar, Electric, Baritone, and Slide Guitars, Dobro

John Marcus – Bass guitar

Dean Brown – Fiddle, Mandolin

Duane Cahill- Keyboards, brass

Jeff McMahon – Piano, Organ, Synthesizer, Keyboards

Billy Mason – Drums

David Dunkley – Percussion

The album debuted at No. 2 on the country albums charts, with the single "Real Good Man" reaching No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. "She's My Kind of Rain" reached No. 2 in 2003, and "Red Ragtop" reached the top 5. The album also featured a cover version of Elton John's early 1970s classic "Tiny Dancer", as well as appearances by Kim Carnes on "Comfort Me" (a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks) and Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles on "Illegal".

''Live Like You Were Dying''

2004's ''Live Like You Were Dying'' continued McGraw's record of commercial success. The title track, dedicated to his father Tug McGraw, who died of a brain tumor earlier in the year, was a soaring ode to living life fully and in the moment, while the second single "Back When" was a paean to an easy nostalgia. ''Live Like You Were Dying'' spent seven non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard (10 weeks on Radio & Records), and went on to become the biggest hit single of the year. It also became one of the most awarded songs/records by winning ACM Single and Song of the Year, CMA Single and Song of the Year, and a Grammy.

In late 2004, his unlikely duet with hip-hop artist Nelly on "Over and Over", a soft ballad of lost love, became a crossover hit, spending 10 weeks atop the Top 40 chart. "Over and Over" brought McGraw a success he had never previously experienced on contemporary hit radio or rap radio, and brought both artists success neither had previously experienced in the hot adult contemporary market. The song also spent a week at the top of the UK single charts, and was McGraw's first visit to the UK hit countdown.

Throughout the 2005 NFL season, McGraw sang an alternate version of "I Like It, I Love It" every week during the season. The alternate lyrics, which changed each week, would make reference to plays during Sunday's games, and the song would be played alongside video highlights during halftime on ''Monday Night Football''. Later in the year, McGraw became a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats when majority owner Bud Adams (owner of the NFL's Tennessee Titans) was awarded the expansion franchise.

''Let It Go''

In April 2006, McGraw and Hill began their 73-concert 55-city Soul2Soul II Tour, again to strong commercial acceptance. The tour grossed nearly $89 million and sold almost 1.1 million tickets, making it the top grossing tour in the history of country music. It was named "Major Tour of the Year" by the prestigious Pollstar Magazine, beating out such heavyweights as Madonna and the Rolling Stones. In a special gesture, the couple donated all of the profits from their performance in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina relief.

Tim, along with Kenny Chesney, contributed to a version of Tracy Lawrence's song "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", which can be found on Lawrence's album ''For the Love''. Although the official single version features only Lawrence's vocals, many stations have opted to play the version with McGraw and Chesney instead.

McGraw released his eleventh album, ''Let It Go'', on March 27, 2007. The album's debut single, "Last Dollar (Fly Away)", reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, marking Tim's first No. 1 single since "Back When" in late 2004. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart, marking his fourth No. 1 top 200 album and ninth No. 1 country album. His daughters can be heard singing the chorus during the last few seconds of the song on the video.

During the Academy of Country Music awards show on May 21, 2007, McGraw performed a song titled "If You're Reading This", which he co-wrote with The Warren Brothers. Several radio stations began to play the live recording of the song; as a result, it entered the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 35.

McGraw also produced the debut album of country music duo Halfway to Hazard. The duo's first single, "Daisy", peaked at No. 39 on the country charts in the summer of 2007.

In the summer of 2007, McGraw and Hill toured together once again in the Soul2Soul 2007 tour.

In the January 18, 2008 edition of the USA Today newspaper, McGraw was stated to be featured on the Def Leppard album ''Songs from the Sparkle Lounge'', having also co-written the first single, "Nine Lives", with Def Leppard band members Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, and Rick Savage. The unusual pairing goes back to 2006 when McGraw joined Def Leppard onstage for the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me", and then collaborated on the song "Nine Lives" afterward. The album was released on April 25, 2008.

In May 2008, he hit the road with the Live Your Voice tour. The mainly-outdoor arena concert tour was his first solo outing in nearly three years. Also in May 2008, he debuted a new song off of his follow-up to ''Let It Go'' at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California.

In July 2008, Tim McGraw's sixth single, and the title track of his album, "Let It Go", was released to country radio. Following that, a seventh single, "Nothin' to Die For", entered the Country charts at No. 57 in late December. Tim McGraw released his third greatest-hits package, ''Greatest Hits 3'' on October 7, 2008. The album features 12 tracks. Tim was set to debut a new song on the 2009 ACM Awards, but then cancelled his performance; he was replaced by Blake Shelton, who sang "She Wouldn't Be Gone".

''Southern Voice''

Tim's twelfth studio album, ''Southern Voice'', was released October 20, 2009, and led by the single "It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You", which was shipped to radio outlets in late June 2009. ''Southern Voice'' was argued to be Tim's last album for Curb Records, following the dispute over releasing his third Greatest Hits collection back in October 2008 without his permission. Tim did not approve of the release. On November 30, 2010, Curb Records released his fourth greatest hits compilation, ''Number One Hits''.

On November 10, 2010, Tim McGraw presented at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards.

2010s

On January 2, 2011, Tim McGraw announced plans for his Emotional Traffic Tour featuring opening acts Luke Bryan and The Band Perry. Sirius XM announced on March 30, 2011 that they would be launching Tim McGraw radio, a commercial-free music channel devoted to McGraw's music, and featuring an in depth interview with Tim as well.

McGraw has also finished work on a new album, also called ''Emotional Traffic'', which will be his last album with Curb Records. McGraw states that Curb is holding the record due to it being his last one with them.

Acting

McGraw's first acting appearance came in a 1995 episode of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, where he played Foxworthy's rival.

In 2004, McGraw played a sheriff in Rick Schroder's independent release ''Black Cloud''. Later in the same year, McGraw received critical acclaim as the overbearing father of a running back in the major studio Texas high school football drama ''Friday Night Lights''. The ''Dallas Observer'' said the role was "played with unexpected ferocity by country singer Tim McGraw". The movie went on to gross over $60 million dollars worldwide at the box office, and sold millions in the DVD market. Most recently, it was named one of the Top 50 High School Movies of All Time (No. 37) by Entertainment Weekly.

McGraw's first lead role was in the 2006 film ''Flicka'', which was released in theatres October 20, 2006. In the remake of the classic book "My Friend Flicka", McGraw played the father, Rob, costarring with Alison Lohman and Maria Bello. The family-friendly movie debuted in the top 10 list and has grossed over $25 million at the box office. McGraw again achieved critical acclaim for his acting.

Shortly before ''Flicka'' opened, McGraw received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. near stars in the sidewalk honoring Julie Andrews, William Shatner, and the late Greta Garbo. One of his ''Flicka'' co-stars, Alison Lohman, attended the ceremony that included comments from Billy Bob Thornton, McGraw's co-star in the film ''Friday Night Lights''.

In addition to acting in ''Flicka'', McGraw served as executive producer of the soundtrack album, which was released by his record label, StyleSonic Records, in association with Curb Records and Fox 2000 films. It featured the closing credit song "My Little Girl", one of the first two songs that McGraw recorded that he also co-wrote (the other being "I've Got Friends That Do", both of which were included on ''Greatest Hits Vol. 2''). The song was nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics for "Best Song" in a film, and the movie was nominated in the category "Best Family Film (Live Action)". The movie proved to be another huge success in the DVD market, and has sold over a million copies, debuting at No. 3 on the DVD sales chart.

McGraw also had a small part in the Michael Mann-produced 2007 film ''The Kingdom'', reuniting him with ''Friday Night Lights''' director Peter Berg. McGraw played a bitter, angered widower whose wife was killed in the terrorist attack that is the centerpiece of the movie.

On November 22, 2008, McGraw made his first appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. He also played "Dallas McVie" in ''Four Christmases''.

His house appeared in an episode of ''CSI'' with special guest Taylor Swift.

McGraw appeared in the 2009 film ''The Blind Side'' as Sean Tuohy, husband of Sandra Bullock’s character, Leigh Anne Tuohy. ''The Blind Side'' is based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in and adopted by the Tuohys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. In addition to his appearance in the film, Tim's hit song "Southern Voice" was played during the closing credits of the film.

He is among the stars of ''Dirty Girl'', a film that premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy and Dwight Yoakam.

Also in 2010, McGraw starred in ''Country Strong'' as James Canter, the husband and manager of the fictional country singer Kelly Canter (portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow).

Charitable efforts

As his success has grown, McGraw has become increasingly interested in giving back to the community. When McGraw first reached fame in 1994, he established his annual Swampstock event. It began as a charity softball game to raise money for hometown little league programs; the event now includes a celebrity softball game and a multi-artist concert that attracts over 11,000 fans per year. The combined events have funded new Little League parks and equipment, and have established college scholarship funds for students in the northeast Louisiana area.

From 1996 to 1999, McGraw hosted an annual New Year's Eve concert in Nashville with special guests including Jeff Foxworthy, the Dixie Chicks, and Martina McBride. The 1997 show raised over $100,000 for the Country Music Foundation Hall of Fame and Museum. Beginning in 1999, McGraw would pick select cities on each tour, and the night before he was scheduled to perform, would choose a local club and host a quickly-organized show. This tour-within-a-tour became known as "The Bread and Water Tour", and all proceeds from the show would go to a charity from that community.

In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, McGraw and his wife, who was raised in Mississippi, joined groups taking supplies to Gulfport, Mississippi. The two also hosted several charity concerts to benefit those who were displaced by the storm. Later in the year, the couple established the Neighbor's Keeper Foundation, which provides funding for community charities to assist with basic humanitarian services, in the event of a natural disaster, or for desperate personal circumstances.

McGraw is also a member of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet, to which various celebrities donate their time, skills, and fame, to help the Red Cross highlight important initiatives and response efforts.

McGraw has helped out with charity events held by Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation has featured McGraw (and at other times Faith Hill) performing concerts during dinners and auctions that benefit children with disabilities in Wisconsin and Mississippi. One instance is recorded on Favre's official website.

On July 12, 2007, it was made public that McGraw and his wife Faith Hill, while in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a performance, donated $5000 to Kailey Kozminski, 3-year-old daughter of Officer Robert Kozminski, a Grand Rapids police officer who was killed on July 8, 2007 while responding to a domestic disturbance.

In June 2010, Tim McGraw, along with his wife Faith Hill organized Nashville Rising, a benefit concert aimed to raise $2 million for The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in response to the flood in early May that killed 22 people and caused $2 billion in damage.

Politics

McGraw, a Democrat, has stated that he would like to run for public office in the future, possibly for Senate or Governor of Tennessee, his home state. In the same interview, he praised former President Bill Clinton. He has referred to himself as a "Blue Dog Democrat" and stated that he supported Presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Discography

Studio albums

''Tim McGraw'' (1993)

''Not a Moment Too Soon'' (1994)

''All I Want'' (1995)

''Everywhere'' (1997)

''A Place in the Sun'' (1999)

''Set This Circus Down'' (2001)

''Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors'' (2002)

''Live Like You Were Dying'' (2004)

''Let It Go'' (2007)

''Southern Voice'' (2009)

Compilation albums

''Greatest Hits'' (2000)

''Reflected: Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' (2006)

''Greatest Hits: Limited Edition'' (2008)

''Collector's Edition'' (2008)

''Greatest Hits 3'' (2008)

''Limited Edition: Greatest Hits: Volumes 1, 2 & 3'' (2008)

''Number One Hits'' (2010)

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
	''Black Cloud''	Sheriff Cliff Powers
	Charles Billingsley
2006		Rob McLaughlin
2007		Aaron Jackson
2008	''Four Christmases''	Dallas
2009		Sean Tuohy
	''Country Strong''	James Canter
2011		Danny
Television
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1997	''The Jeff Foxworthy Show''	Lionel	one episode; "Feud for Thought"
2008	''Saturday Night Live''	Host	Hosted November 22, 2008
2011	''Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S. TV series)''	Himself	Season 2, Episode 2

Awards

Year !! Awards !! Award
rowspan="5"	1994	Country Music Television	Male Video Artist of the Year
American Music Awards	Album of the Year – ''Not a Moment Too Soon''
American Music Awards	Top New Male Vocalist
Billboard Awards	Top New Country Artist
Billboard Magazine	Top New Country Album – ''Not a Moment Too Soon''
1995	American Music Awards
rowspan="5"	1997	Billboard Magazine
Country Music Television	Video of the Year – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
Country Music Television	Male Artist of the Year
Playgirl Magazine	Top Ten, Sexiest Men of the Year
CMA	Vocal Event – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
rowspan="6"	1998	Billboard Awards
CMA	Album of the Year – ''Everywhere''
Academy of Country Music	Single of the Year – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
Academy of Country Music	Song of the Year – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
Academy of Country Music	Video of the Year – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
Academy of Country Music	Top Vocal Event – "It's Your Love" (with Faith Hill)
rowspan="4"	1999	Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music	Vocal Collaboration – "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" (with Faith Hill)
CMA	Male Vocalist
CMA	Album of the Year – ''A Place in the Sun''
rowspan="4"	2000	CMA
National Fatherhood Initiative	Father of the Year
Academy of Country Music	Male Vocalist
Billboard Awards	Male Artist of the Year
rowspan="8"	2001	American Music Awards
Grammy Awards	Vocal Collaboration – "Let's Make Love'' (with Faith Hill)
CMA	Entertainer of the Year
Billboard Awards	Country Artist
Billboard Awards	Male Country Artist
Billboard Awards	Country Albums Artist
Billboard Awards	Country Single Artist
Billboard Awards	Country Album – ''Greatest Hits''
rowspan="2"	2002	American Music Awards
American Music Awards	Favorite Male Country Artist
rowspan="3"	2003	American Music Awards (January)
Radio Music Awards (January)	Country Male Artist
American Music Awards (November)	Favorite Country Male Artist
rowspan="3"	2004	People's Choice Awards
Radio Music Awards	Country Male Artist
CMA	Single of the Year – "Live Like You Were Dying"
rowspan="7"	2005	American Music Awards
American Music Awards	Male Artist (country genre)
Academy of Country Music	Song of the Year -"Live Like You Were Dying"
Academy of Country Music	Single of the Year -"Live Like You Were Dying"
People's Choice Awards	Favorite Country Male Artist
Grammy Award	Best Male Country Vocal Performance – "Live Like You Were Dying"
Country Music Television	Most Inspiring Video – "Live Like You Were Dying"
rowspan="2"	2006	People's Choice Awards
Grammy Award	Country Vocal Collaboration – "Like We Never Loved At All" (with Faith Hill)

Further reading

Brown, Jim; Sparrow, Susan. ''Faith Hill & Tim McGraw: Soul 2 Soul''. Quarry Music Books, 2002. ISBN 1550822934

Gray, Scott. ''Perfect Harmony: the Faith Hill & Tim McGraw Story''. 1st ed. Ballantine Books, 1999. ISBN 0345434129

McGraw, Tim. ''Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors: This is Ours''. Atria Books, 2002. ISBN 074346706X

Nichols, Tim, and Craig Wiseman. ''Live Like You Were Dying''. Rutledge Hill P, 2004. ISBN 1401602126

Trimble, Betty "McMom". ''A Mother's Story''. D'Agostino/Dahlhauser/Ditmore Pub, 1996. ISBN 1886371326

References

External links

Tim McGraw at Country Music Television

Category:1967 births Category:Actors from Louisiana Category:Actors from Tennessee Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American country record producers Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Arena Football League executives Category:Curb Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People from Richland Parish, Louisiana Category:University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni Category:Tennessee Democrats

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