Taylor Swift Biography

If you need inspiration to overcome bullies and stay true to your artistic vision, look no further than the Taylor Swift biography. Swift may reign as queen of the country and pop music airwaves, but as her biography reveals, she didn't always have a court of loyal fans cheering her on.

Born December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift endured a whole lot of teasing as a tween and teen. A middle-school mean-girl clique shunned her for not being "cool or "pretty enough" and classmates picked on her for liking country music, she told "Teen Vogue" in 2009. She could have ditched her dreams and tried to fit in, but instead she turned her suffering into songs. Her parents recognized her talent and were impressed by her dedication. They started taking regular trips to Nashville and eventually moved the family to a suburb of the country music mecca.

The young Taylor Swift showed integrity in her business dealings, too. At the tender age of 13, she signed on with RCA Records, but Swift ended the short-lived contract because she didn't want to perform other people's songs. She wanted to write her own. Many older musicians could take a page from the Taylor Swift biography and fight for their artistic vision, and yet she was barely a teenager when she did it.

Walking away from a record contract takes guts, but it paid off. Swift later signed on to Big Machine Records and released her 2006 hit single "Tim McGraw," in which she hopes a lost love thinks of her "head on his chest" and her "old faded blue jeans" when he hears Tim McGraw music. She was just 16. Her debut album came out that same year, and 2.5 million copies later, the mean girls and bullies had to eat crow: Taylor Swift was a star. Soon enough, the same people who picked on her wanted her autograph.

From there, Taylor Swift skyrocketed to superstardom. By 2007, she earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist – the same year she turned 18. The accolades did not stop there. In 2008, Swift won Video of the Year from the Country Music Television Awards and Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards.

No Taylor Swift biography would be complete without another bully moment – this one from the infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift won the award for Best Female Video, but Kanye West didn't think she deserved it. He interrupted her speech and proclaimed Beyonce more deserving. Just like she did in middle school, Taylor Swift endured it with grace. Once again, her music kept her strong. She told MTV News she felt rattled but had to perform in a few minutes, so she pulled herself together.

As a teen Swift had drawn inspiration from the pain caused by teasing. As a young woman, she still writes music about her life, famously telling all about her relationships with heartthrobs like Taylor Lautner and John Mayer. The song "Dear John" from the 2010 album "Speak Now" asks, "Don't you think nineteen's too young/To be played/ By your dark, twisted games/When I loved you so?" Writing such personal songs is risky, but for Swift, the risk paid off. "Speak Now" sold more than one million copies in just one week and she took home four Grammys in 2010.

As for beating the bullies at their own game, Swift took the ultimate revenge: becoming a "Cover Girl" alongside the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Queen Latifah. With so much success, it is hard to believe the Taylor Swift biography has only just begun.