The writer is a Fiji Sun columnist.

Taylor Swift is a household name amongst music fans the world over and has won multiple Music and Grammy awards across the globe and has sold over 50 million albums.

I had the pleasure of being invited to watch her perform live in August 2104 at the prestigious MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, and I have to say Taylor Swift was the stand-out performance of the evening. The show had a complete star-studded line-up of the best of the best in the music industry including Beyonce.

Upon closer inspection of this very gifted and talented artist it should be of no surprise that Taylor Swift’s rise to the top was through her hard work and persistence.

Taylor Swift was born in December 1989 to father Scott Swift, who was a financial advisor and devoted mother Andrea Swift, a homemaker; the couple also had a younger son named Austin. She was just like any other middleclass girl growing up in Pennsylvania firstly being enrolled into kindergarten and then a co-ed private school in her formative years. During the summer vacation she would, along with her younger brother,  attend vacation bible school which was a joy for her.

At the age of nine, Taylor found a passion for music and theatre and started performing in many youth theatre productions.  Such was her passion she persuaded her parents to let her take acting and singing classes. The acting and singing classes took up all of her spare time but even at this young age you could see the dedication she was prepared to put in.

By now Taylor was interested in country music and would dream about becoming a country music star one day. At the age of 10 she could be seen spending her weekends working hard and performing at local festivals, coffeehouses, Boy Scout meetings and sporting events.

At the age of 11, after failing in many singing contests, Taylor finally won a local talent competition and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for a recognised band at the Stausstown Amphitheater.

This was a big eye-opener for her and even at such a young age felt that being a singer was all she wanted to do.

After this performance Taylor and her mother painstakingly put together a demo tape of her best songs and travelled to the heart of country music, Nashville, Tennessee, to visit every record label and see if there would be an opening for her unique talents.

After visiting all the record companies and submitting her tapes not one was willing to sign her up or even call her up for an audition.

While this would have been the end of the story for 99 per cent of singing hopefuls Taylor decided not to give up and try again, but this time with a new style.

When Taylor was 12 years old, she was taught how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, “Lucky You.” She had previously won a national poetry contest but now began to focus on songwriting.

In 2003 at age 13, Taylor, after performing her original songs for various music professionals, was finally given an artist development deal to help her write and perform more material for country music in Nashville.

With all systems go after many setbacks Taylor was finally about to realise her dream as a singer and songwriter. To help Taylor break into country music her father even sacrificed his career by transferring his business to Nashville when she was only 14.

Today Taylor Swift is one of the biggest artists in the world; she earns in excess of $100 million dollars a year and performs with the best artists of today. She certainly has the X-factor and proves with persistence and focus, even if one door of opportunity closes another two will open.

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