Taylor’s ‘proud parents’ who have been by her side during the Eras Tour and even handed out fried chicken to shocked fans helped her pave the way to superstardom

Taylor Swift‘s parents Scott and Andrea were in the Wembley crowd on Friday to watch their daughter perform yet another sold-out show from The Eras Tour.

The billionaire songstress, 34, is in the middle of her second leg at the national stadium, following her string of dates in June.

Addressing the crowd, an emotional Taylor said: ‘You win Wembley night two,’ after being left stunned by the sheer noise. 

She continued: ‘I know I was recording a video of that in my head of that, but I guarantee my parents were just recording that on their phones,’ she said.

‘Every time I have a sad or bad day from now not only will I have the video in my mind but I’m going to revisit that moment.’

Taylor’s parents are rarely pictured together since their split in 2011, and Andrea shies away from the spotlight.

But, Scott, 72, made headlines on Friday when he handed around a plate of chicken tenders to his fellow concert-goers.

He further proved he is the singer’s biggest supporter in June when he was again at Wembley for Taylor’s first leg.

Andrea, had also been wildly supportive and played an instrumental part in Taylor’s now-billion-dollar career despite her cancer battle.

Scott is a longtime Merrill Lynch (a Bank of America company) employee whose registered investment adviser The Swift Group is based in the family’s hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

A disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission lists him as linked to 10 companies affiliated with his daughter, according to Bloomberg. 

This includes merchandising and rights-management businesses and entities that own her tour bus, two private jets and real estate.

The father-of-two has previously been described as very protective of his daughter – and has been by her side during the Eras tour.

Their closeness has always been evident and poignant, and Scott has even been dubbed ‘the most supportive dad’ at The Era Tour.

At a concert last year, TikToker @haylzz13 shared a clip of the devoted father filming his daughter perform, in awe. Commenters couldn’t contain their delight at the sweet display of parental affection, saying he ‘must be beyond proud’.

Scott has also been seen handing out 2,000 VIP wristbands to lucky fans at various shows. 

Taylor’s father is also cited as a protective figure in many of her lyrics.

In The Best Day, she sings: ‘I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger.’

For her Speak Now album in Mine, she sings: ‘You made a rebel of a careless’ man’s careful daughter’ and in her first big hit Love Story, the lyrics go: ‘my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet”.’ 

In her latest album Tortured Poets Department, she sings: ‘But Daddy I love him’ in a song which is widely thought to be about her ex-boyfriend Matty Healy. 

Marketing manager Andrea and stockbroker Scott tied the knot back in 1988 before welcoming their daughter Taylor the following year in 1989. 

Marketing manager Andrea and stockbroker Scott tied the knot back in 1988 before welcoming their daughter Taylor the following year in 1989.

They went on to welcome Taylor’s brother Austin in 1992 and the family lived in Wyomissing in Pennsylvania at a Christmas tree farm – which inspired her 2019 smash hit by the same name.

Speaking to Esquire in 2014, Taylor spoke about her childhood growing up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, where she’s originally from, which she said Scott ‘tended to as a hobby’.

‘He’d tend to the farm as his hobby,’ she explained. 

‘He’d get up four hours early to go mow the fields on his tractor. We all had jobs. Mine was picking the praying-mantis pods off of the trees, collecting them so that the bugs wouldn’t hatch inside people’s houses.

‘My parents were very strict about education and hard work, from the time my brother and I were really little kids.’

Her doting parents became aware of her passion for music from a very young age and the family relocated to Nashville when Taylor was 14 to help her pursue her dreams of becoming a singer.

Andrea previously told Entertainment Weekly of the move: ‘I never wanted to make that move about her ‘making it’.

‘Because what a horrible thing if it hadn’t happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around. We’ve always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true,’ she added.

However, Taylor went on to land a record deal with Sony in 2004 when she was just 14 years old, becoming the youngest signing in the label’s history, and then signed with Big Machine Records the following year.

Speaking to UDaily in 2009, Scott revealed the family realized the potential for Taylor’s talent from a very young age.

‘She was always singing music when she was three, five, six, seven years old,’ he said. ‘It’s Taylor doing what she likes to do.

‘We had a kid that was really passionate about it, and when she was 13 she got a development deal at RCA.

‘That was the confirmation that maybe she wasn’t crazy, because her writing is why she got it.’

Andrea has previously been described by her daughter Taylor as ‘calculated, logical and business-minded’. 

And one of Taylor’s first managers credited both Andrea and her ex-husband Scott for their ‘great marketing minds’.

Andrea marketed Taylor’s music on MySpace leading to her bagging her first record deal with Big Machine Records when she was just 15.

Before she signed with Big Machine Records, Taylor was already working with one of her earlier managers Rick Barber. 

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the star’s former manager praised Andrea for approaching her daughter’s career path with a clear marketing strategy.

He said: ‘The parents already had her MySpace and her website up and running. 

‘The mom and dad both have great marketing minds. I don’t want to say fake it until you make it, but when you looked at her stuff, it was very professional even before she got her deal.’

Thanks to Andrea’s forward-thinking social media strategy, Rick able to begin the process of turning Taylor into a superstar.

Before this, she and Scott drove their daughter to Nashville so she could hand out her demos at the major record labels.

Taylor’s fans have long speculated that the singer’s Southern accent – which she spoke and sung with in the early days of her career – was ‘faked’.

The pop star spent the first 14 years of her life living in Pennsylvania before the Swift family relocated to Nashville, Tennessee so Taylor could pursue a music career.

Although it’s possible Taylor picked up her accent as a result of the move, fans have suggested that it was something her parents and publicity team encouraged.

According to JSTOR’s linguist Chi Luu, the single ’22’ is one of the last times fans can hear Taylor’s Southern twang in her songs.

They wrote in 2020: ‘In the genre is pure pop, but the southern accent is still a force to be reckoned with. The “e” of “twenty” sounds more like “twinny” and the “two” sounds more like “tew.” 

However, whether Taylor code-switches because of the musical genre in which she’s singing, or because she may have only acquired her accent after moving to the South as a young teen.

Taylor has never directly addressed the speculation that her Southern accent was ‘faked’ or any rumours that Andrea and her team encouraged it.

It has also been theorised that Andrea is behind Taylor’s debut single being called Tim McGraw.

The idea was, by putting newbie Taylor’s name beside established artist Tim’s, his fans would be drawn to her to try to figure out what she was about. 

Another way Andrea and Scott boost Taylor’s brand is by being very friendly with fans.

The most recent example of this was Scott’s Friday chicken display, but Andrea has also had several close moments.

The former couple are known to immerse themselves in the crowd and hand out Taylor-themed guitar picks and bracelets.

When they do these things, fans respond: ‘Taylor got it from her mama, the kindest human beings!’

‘You can really see why Taylor is the person she is when you see how nice her mom is. She raised Tay well.’ 

‘It’s not hard to understand why Taylor is the way she with a mother like that. Angels. And so down to Earth.’ 

This proves the strategy is effective. 

Taylor’s sixth tour The Eras Tour, the highest-grossing tour in history, began in March 2023 and ends in December 2024.