9781422286630

Beginnings

6

Reading, a city of some 88,000 souls, lies in the southeast of Pennsylvania and is the seat of Berks County. It is also now famous as the birthplace of Taylor Alison Swift. Her father Scott was an alumnus of the University of Delaware where he graduated in business in 1974. He went on to become head of the Swift Group, a financial advisory service under the umbrella of Merrill Lynch, the wealth management division of

the Bank of America. On February 20, 1988 he married Andrea Gardner Finlay. Andrea also worked in finance, as a mutual fund marketing executive, but opted out of her career to give birth to Taylor on December 13, 1989. Music ran in the family, since Andrea’s mother was an opera singer. “I can remember her singing, the thrill of it,” Taylor said of her grandmother. “She was one of

my first inspirations.” Scott Swift bought a Christmas tree farm from a client in Montgomery County, 37 miles from Reading, and Taylor spent the early years of her life in this idyllic rural setting. Her first love was horses; the family owned several, and she competed in shows at a young age. Scott recalls that his daughter first showed musical ability as an infant. “She was always singing