Long before she was a Grammy-winning superstar and the world’s highest-paid female entertainer, the “Folklore” singer’s parents were listening to her sing karaoke and driving her to local gigs near her hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.
“She was always singing music when she was 3, 5, 6, 7, years old,” her dad, Scott Swift, told UDaily, the newspaper of his alma mater, the University of Delaware. “It’s Taylor doing what she likes to do.”
Scott and Andrea Swift have been their daughter’s biggest fans since birth, nurturing her talent and passion from a young age while striving to keep the pressures of fame off of her.
“There would always be an escape hatch into normal life if she decided this wasn’t something she had to pursue,” Andrea told Entertainment Weekly in 2008. “And of course that’s like saying to her, ‘If you want to stop breathing, that’s cool.’ ”
Andrea, a former marketing manager at an advertising agency, married Scott, a stockbroker-turned-vice-president for Merrill Lynch, on February 20, 1988, in Harris County, Texas. The couple welcomed Taylor on Dec. 13, 1989. Just over two years later, Taylor became a big sister when her brother Austin was born on March 11, 1992.
The two siblings grew up on a 15-acre Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania before eventually moving to the suburbs of Nashville after the “Teardrops On My Guitar” singer landed her first major record deal with Sony at age 14.
Within a few years of taking that leap of faith, Taylor made her debut onstage at the Grand Ole Opry as a rising country star in September 2006. Andrea began to accompany her on the road as her career took off, while Scott stayed home with Austin.
By 2010, Taylor’s chart-topping success took her to the Grammys, where she swept up four awards and made history as the youngest artist ever to take home album of the year for 2008’s Fearless. She effusively thanked both her parents for their support in her acceptance speech, dedicating the award to her dad. “This is for all those times that you said I could do whatever I wanted in life,” she said. “And my mom, you’re my best friend.”
Keep reading for more about Taylor Swift’s parents, Scott and Andrea Swift
