Julianne Hough

She subsequently had surgery to have her appendix removed, causing her to miss several performances; Edyta Śliwińska stood in for her. Hough returned to the show, although the pair were ultimately eliminated in the Semifinals Competition. She appeared on the November 12 results show dancing the jive to "Great Balls of Fire" with her brother for the "Design-A-Dance" contest. Read Less

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 placed at No. 100 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. She later signed with Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Nashville division.

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, debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart on May 31, and also peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Hough's second single, and the first to be released to country radio, was "That Song in My Head". Read Less

Hough was born and raised in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, the last of five children in a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) family. Her parents are Mari Anne (née Heaton) and Bruce Robert Hough, who was twice chairman of the Utah Republican Party. Her brother, Derek Hough, is also a professional dancer. She also has three older sisters, Sharee, Marabeth, and Katherine. All four of Hough's 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 brother Derek to London a year later to live and study with their coaches, Corky and Shirley Ballas, and to spare them the strife of divorce. The Ballases helped tutor the two Hough children alongside their own son, Mark, schooling them at the Italia Conti Academy. They received training in song, theatre, gymnastics and many forms of dance, including jazz, ballet, and tap. The three children formed their own pop music trio 2B1G ("2 Boys, 1 Girl") when Hough was twelve, performed at dance competitions in the UK and the U.S., and showcased in a UK television show. 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. Read Less