KUALA LUMPUR: At her recent concert in Singapore, American superstar Taylor Swift revealed that her mother Andrea had once lived in the island republic as a child and attended the Singapore American School between 1968 and 1969.
The Straits Times recently reported that Andrea, then known as Andrea Finlay, now 66, was a student at its King's Road campus.
She is widely recognised as a brilliant manager, who played a big part in propelling her daughter to where she is now.
At the concert on March 2, the 34-year-old artiste told fans that her mother spent much of her childhood in Singapore with her parents and sister.
"A lot of the time when we came here on tour, my mum would take me and drive me past her old house and where she used to go to school; and so, I've been hearing about Singapore my whole life," Swift said after performing 'Marjorie', an emotional track inspired by her maternal grandmother Marjorie Finlay, who died in 2003.
Swift's maternal grandfather Robert Finlay moved his family there for a few years while working in an engineering company.
Her grandmother Marjorie, an opera singer, was chosen to play the part of a peasant girl in a production at the Victoria Theatre in 1968.
The report also quoted Singaporean writer Koh Buck Song, 60, who said that scenes in a music video for 'Marjorie', which is composed of old footage, appear to have been shot in Singapore in the 1960s.
In the short clip, Marjorie is seen in a yellow dress as she walks out of a British colonial bungalow towards a Ford car bearing with number plate SM 8860. A man and a little girl are seen in the background.
"The architecture of the bungalow in the scene is distinctive of colonial bungalows in Singapore which are present today in Tanglin, Sembawang or Ridout Road. The car porch and grass slopes are also unmistakably Singapore-like," said Koh.
In an earlier report Swift said: "My mother always told me amazing stories about (Singapore), so I always wanted to come. She will join me because she wants to return to see all the places she used to know. She said the place is fantastic."