First, she danced her way into the hearts of viewers on one of America's top-rated reality-TV shows, Dancing with the Stars, then promptly two-stepped a path onto the country music charts and country radio with her self-titled freshman disc for Mercury Nashville—a CD that debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Album charts of Billboard last summer.
Most recently, however, country newcomer Julianne Hough, 21, officially reported that she one day hopes to waltz down the aisle of matrimony with fellow country singer Chuck Wicks. And from all indications, the 29-year-old crooner—who's the voice behind the No. 5-ranked Stealing Cinderella, which was the biggest country debut for any new artist in 2007—likes the sound of that plan, too.
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Together just five months, "perfect" is how Hough (pronounced huff) has described the moment she and Wicks first met last August while both new-country artists were touring with headliner Brad Paisley.
"We definitely want to go there," Hough said in a Dec. 2, 2008, interview with People magazine, referring to marriage for the pair. "The first date we had we both had that feeling like we were going to fall in love with each other."
In spite of the fact both have publicly declared their love for one another, no official engagement has been announced. Instead, the country-music couple has been sharing time with Hough's family. The Utah-born champion dancer and country starlet recently took the Delaware-reared Wicks, who grew up on a potato farm, to meet her close-knit kin on Thanksgiving, with plans to for another Hough family visit at Christmastime, but this time, in Nashville.
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"This was big for me," Wicks has said of the recent meet-the-folks visit. "She has the best family I've met in the world. They just like to have a good time."
Prior to their summertime meeting, Wicks had parted ways with a longtime girlfriend and Hough had ended a not-meant-to-be engagement with former dancer Zac Wilson. Needless to say, falling in love so quickly was nothing either performer had in mind, but somehow, love found a way.
These days, though, Wicks has already been declared "part of the (Hough) family" and "everybody loves him to death," declared the blond musician in her latest People interview. Plus, she added, "He's as big of a dork as we are. And that's a pretty big dork."
The crooning twosome made their first public outing as a couple at the 2008 Country Music Awards in Nashville on Nov. 12. But when they're not in the public eye, Wicks has said, the duo are just "a laid-back, normal couple" who enjoy life beyond the spotlight's glare.
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Avoiding the media attention they garner, however, is likely something the country singers won't too terribly much of, though, since both are promoting their latest musical projects. Wicks, who's scored two hit country songs from his inaugural Starting Now CD, including the top-20 All I Ever Wanted single, is anxious to keep his burgeoning career momentum, while Hough recently released and began promoting an eight-song EP of Christmas music, Sounds of the Season: The Julianne Hough Holiday Collection, that's available only via Target stores.
As for how the songbirds—both of whom are nominated in the 2008 CMT Online Awards in the "No. 1 Streamed Video from a New Artist" category—will mix love with their crazy work and touring schedules, Hough, in a recent People article, observed, "It's very difficult to date—I just got kind of lucky!"
Sources
Chuck Wicks, artist's official music site, www.chuckwicks.com.
Chuck Wicks,Widipedia entry. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2008.
Finan, Eileen. Julianne Hough: 'I'm dating an awesome' guy, online article posted on people.com, Aug. 8, 2008.
Gray, Mark. Julianne Hough and boyfriend talk marriage, online article posted on people.com, Dec. 2, 2008.
Julianne Hough, Wikipedia entry. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2008.
Kauss, Katie. Chuck WIcks 'very much in love' with Julianne Hough, online article posted on people.com, Nov. 25, 2008.
Lisa L. Rollins - Texas native Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D., is an award-winning feature writer, interviewer and journalism educator.
