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.
Waterloo Road star reveals secret 20-year heroin addiction as he admits 'biggest mistake'
dailystar.co.ukheroin addiction - and it was one of the "biggest mistakes" he ever made.The actor, who played deputy headteacher Simon Lowsley in the hit BBC school series, said he used to be a "functioning professional addict who kept his addiction a secret.Richard, 48, told the BBC he could be giving a "career-ending interview" but he didn't care.He said he began taking illegal drugs at the start of his acting career during his theatre stint on the West End and suffered from "crippling anxiety".The Welsh actor recalled his addiction starting after "one night of weakness" after a "few drinks".He went on to suffer a "cycle of abuse", but the star reached his "absolute lowest" when spiralling between absuing drugs and trying to get clean.He told BBC Wales: "It was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made," as he opened up in a bid to help tackle the stigma around heroin abuse.Richard, who is a father of two, said: "My personal relationships suffered, my work relationships suffered and it robbed me of my inner ambition".He also said: "Addiction can never lift you from where you need to go" and that it 'robs people of themselves'.He said the drug "chaos" took "chunks of [his] life away", but he's now been in recovery for 10 years with the "unconditional support" of his wife Tammie.Richard said he hoped to reduce stigma around addiction as many people out there would "never" come forward with their own struggles.He said: "There are so many people out there who would never ever come forward because the stigma is so great".On speaking out, he added: "What I care about is challenging our empathy response as a society."There's MUCH more where that came from!
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