In 2020, she released a ballad named after her late grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, as one of the songs from her Evermore track list.

“Marjorie” is inspired by Swift’s maternal grandma and is an emotional and heart-wrenching tribute to the country singer’s memories before her passing, with lyrics including: “I should’ve asked you questions; I should’ve asked you how to be; Asked you to write it down for me; Should’ve kept every grocery store receipt; ‘Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me”.

Swift is quoted singing, “What died didn’t stay dead; You’re alive, you’re alive in my head”.

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So, who was Taylor Swift’s late grandma, Marjorie Finlay – and did you know she had a successful career as an opera singer and TV show host?

How is Marjorie Finlay related to Taylor Swift?

Marjorie Finlay is Taylor Swift’s maternal grandmother. Marjorie married Swift’s maternal grandfather Robert Finlay in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1952, per People. Marjorie and Robert Finlay had Swift’s mother Andrea in 1958.

She was an opera star in Puerto Rico …

Music seems to be in the Swift family genes. Per English-language Latino site Mitú, Marjorie Finlay was a talented, classically trained virtuoso opera singer who travelled with orchestras throughout Latin America. A 1952 newspaper clipping from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat stated that Finlay attended Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri and was in a sorority.

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… and had her own TV show

The same newspaper snippet explained that Swift’s grandmother even had her own TV show in Puerto Rico.

It read, “In San Juan [Puerto Rico], where the Finlays now live, [Marjorie Finlay] has had her own TV programme, does concert, opera and supper club singing.” Per the source, Finlay got into television in 1960, “when an American girl who spoke broken Spanish was needed for a Pan-American bilingual show aimed at bringing better understanding throughout the Americas through their music”.

Mitú stated that the show in question was called El Show Pan-Americano.

Taylor Swift used her grandmother’s vocals in the Eras Tour

Swift left many fans in tears when she released her song, “Marjorie” and said that it was inspired by her late grandmother, per Buzzfeed. She even added the former opera star’s vocals to the track.

Buzzfeed reports that Swift explained at the time, “My mom found a bunch of her old records of her singing opera, and I sent them to Aaron [Dessner] and he added them to the song.”

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“It says, ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were singing to me now,’ and then you hear her, you hear Marjorie actually sing,” she added.

Was Taylor Swift’s grandma famous?

While Swift’s grandma undoubtedly enjoyed some fame as an opera singer before her death in 2003 aged 74, it’s clear that she wasn’t nearly as famous as her multi-Grammy award-winning granddaughter – but would surely be proud of her incredible achievements and milestones to date.

Per Buzzfeed, sadly, Finlay wasn’t able to see her granddaughter’s rise to superstardom as she passed away a year before Swift signed to her first record label at the age of 14. But her legacy lives on – in Swift’s empowering music and lyrics.