Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough (pronounced "huff") (born July 20, 1988) is an American professional ballroom dancer and country music singer. She is most-widely known for her repeated appearances on ABC's program, Dancing with the Stars, which she won twice. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for her choreography. ABC's 20/20 called her one of the "very best dancers on the planet."[1] Julianne's brother, Derek Hough, is also on Dancing with the Stars. Hough was signed to Mercury Nashville Records in December 2007. Her self-titled debut album was released May 20, 2008, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart and #3 on the Billboard 200. This season Hough was partnered with Cody Linley.
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[edit] Early life
Hough grew up one of five[2][3] children from an LDS (Mormon) family in Salt Lake City. Her brother Derek Hough is also a professional dancer. She has three sisters named Sharee, Marabeth, and Katherine. All four of her grandparents were dancers, and her parents met while on a ballroom dancing team in college in Idaho.
Her formal training began at the Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Orem, Utah, where she danced with Josh Murillo, among others, in Latin Ballroom; she began dancing competitively at nine. Her parents sent her and her brother to London for a year later to live and study with their coaches, Corky and Shirley Ballas, and to spare them the strife of divorce.[4] The Ballas' helped tutor the two Hough children alongside their own son, Mark, while schooling them at the Italia Conti Academy. They received training in song, theatre, gymnastics and many forms of dance, including jazz, ballet, and tap.[5][4] The three children formed their own pop music trio 2B1G ("2 Boys, 1 Girl") when Julianne was twelve,[6] performed at dance competitions in the U.K. and the U.S., and showcased in a UK television show.[7] At fifteen, Julianne Hough became the youngest dancer, and only American, to win both Junior World Latin Champion and International Latin Youth Champion at the Blackpool Dance Festival.
After five years in London, Hough returned to the U.S., first living with her mother for a year and attending Las Vegas Academy then returning to Utah to live with her father and graduating from Alta High.[8] She then moved on her own to Los Angeles to begin her career.
[edit] Dancing career
One of her earliest professional experiences was as an assistant choreographer on Gwen Stefani's Wind It Up music video.[citation needed] She was also featured in two television commercials and was an extra in an episode of Cold Case. She was also one of the "Million Dollar Dancers" in the short-lived network television game show Show Me the Money.
Hough's big break was when she appeared in the fourth season of the U.S. version of Dancing with the Stars, a televised ballroom dance competition. In her first season, she won with her partner, Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, making Hough the youngest professional dancer to win on the program. On November 27, 2007, Hough and her partner, two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves, became the winners of Season 5. Hough returned for season 6 with radio host/comedian Adam Carolla, but they were eliminated in the fourth week. In July 2008, Hough was nominated at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of "Outstanding Choreography" for her Mambo "Para Los Rumberos" (performed with partner Hélio Castroneves) on Dancing with the Stars,[9] but lost to choreographer Wade Robson.
On August 25, 2008, the cast of Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 7) was announced, and Hough was partnered with Hannah Montana actor Cody Linley.[10] She was feeling stomach pains during her jitterbug performance and was immediately rushed to a hospital following the encore performance of her jitterbug with Cody. She subsequently had surgery to have her appendix removed on October 28, and now Linley and Hough "turned the time over to" Edyta Śliwińska. Hough hoped for a quick recovery so she could begin dancing again. She began training Cody again, but they were ultimately eliminated in the Semifinals Competition. She also appeared on the November 12 results show dancing the jive to Great Balls of Fire with her brother, Derek Hough, for the "Design-A-Dance" contest. Julianne and Derek were selected the favorite pros on the show by an online vote at ABC.com and won the honor of doing this special audience designed dance.
On November 20, 2008, Julianne told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show she would not be returning for the foreseeable future to Dancing with the Stars in order to further her country music career.[11]
[edit] Music career
Hough's first country music single "Will You Dance With Me" was released to iTunes and Wal-Mart in May 2007 to raise money for the American Red Cross. The song peaked at #100 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart.[12] She later signed with Universal Music Group Nashville.
Her self-titled debut album was recorded in Nashville and produced by David Malloy, who has worked with Reba McEntire, Eddie Rabbitt, among others. Hough's album, which met with mixed reviews,[13][14] debuted at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart on May 31, and also peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200.[15] Hough's second single, and the first to be released to country radio, "That Song in My Head" debuted on the Country charts in March.
Hough joined Brad Paisley's 2008 Tour, along with Jewel and Chuck Wicks. Hough, Paisley and Willie Nelson appear in the video for the Snoop Dogg song "My Medicine".[16]
Later in 2008, Hough released an EP of Christmas music entitled Sounds of the Season: The Julianne Hough Holiday Collection, which is available exclusively at Target stores.
On November 18, she performed her second single "My Hallelujah Song" at Dancing With the Stars, with her brother,Derek Hough, Mark Ballas and Lacey Schwimmer dancing. She also was eliminated off the show, being in 4th place.
[edit] Personal life
Hough was previously engaged to dancer Zach Wilson; they ended their engagement in May 2007.[17] Despite various rumors linking her romantically with various Dancing With the Stars partners,[18] and public courting by Kevin Connolly of Entourage fame,[19] Hough's first public relationship after Wilson was with country singer Chuck Wicks.[20]
Julianne Hough was diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a common condition in which tissue from the uterus lining grows outside the uterus. It often causes painful cysts and possiblly infertility. Hough, 20, had to undergo an appendectomy in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on October 28, 2008 to remove her appendix, a cyst on her ovary, and scar tissue that had formed on her bladder and fallopian tubes.[21]
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