

2003
Country's Determined Darling
At 13, Taylor Swift, who began writing songs at age 5, signs with RCA Records. A year later, she gets out of the contract because she doesn't want to sing other writer's songs. Around that time, she becomes the youngest songwriter to sign a publishing deal with Sony – but doesn't want her songs sung by other artists. "She has a real inner vision, a real inner directedness," says Scott Borchetta, who eventually urges Swift to write andsing under a recording contract with his indie label, Big Machine Records.
