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.
Ashley Bryan (1923–2022), award-winning children’s author and illustrator
legacy.comAshley Bryan wrote and illustrated award-winning children’s books including “Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum” and Beautiful Blackbird.”Bryan began creating art as a child and went on to study art at Cooper Union.
While in school, he was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War II. He kept a sketch pad and drawing materials in his gas mask to continue making art while he served, including drawing sketches of Omaha Beach on D-Day.
After the war, Bryan continued studying art and began teaching art, as well as illustrating the writings of other authors. In the 1970s, he began writing and illustrating his own children’s books, with early titles including “The Ox of the Wonderful Horns and Other African Folktales” and “The Adventures of Aku.” With his books, he shared stories with children of African traditions and African American life.
Bryan’s books covered topics from traditional African tales to the lives of slaves in America to his own experiences in the segregated Army.Bryan’s work was widely celebrated, and he was first honored with a Coretta Scott King Award for illustration for “Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum,” a collection of Nigerian folk tales.
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