Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at 15, she signed her first record deal.
Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008.
Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", it became the US' best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.
'I’d had so much to drink I had no idea what I’d done'
manchestereveningnews.co.ukHaving spent his life struggling with his own self-esteem, Martin Preston never felt like he was good enough. Surrounded by high achievers at Manchester Grammar School, he was an average student, not overly sporty and wasn’t super popular with girls.
So when he had his first sip of alcohol at 14, something inside him changed. Suddenly, he had confidence. He was better at socialising.
He felt happier. “I loved it,” the 39-year-old, who lives in Altrincham, said. “As a teen, it was great fun.” READ MORE: 'I was told I was going to wreck my legs and didn't listen': Woman's agonising symptoms after past returned to haunt her But that fun wouldn’t last long.
Martin quickly became known as the friend who would always take his drinking too far – going out at every opportunity and jumping between friendship groups to ensure he was always at a party.
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