Who would have thought a small town girl from Oklahoma and a hockey-playing Canadian would become a high-profile power couple. But Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are exactly that. And they are soon to be power parents -- their first child, a boy, will be making his arrival into the world this spring.
Underwood, from Checotah, Okla. -- with a population just north of 3,000 -- emerged from the promise of her 2005 "American Idol" win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television and film. The six-time Grammy Award winner has amassed more than 95 major honors, sold more than 64 million records worldwide and recorded 18 No. 1 singles, nine of which she co-wrote.
In 2013 she starred as Maria von Trapp in NBC's three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy-winning "The Sound of Music Live!", which attracted 44 million viewers.
Her latest album is "Greatest Hits: Decade #1," which includes two new songs, "Something in the Water" (already a No. 1 hit) and "Little Toy Guns," plus four songs in never-before-released versions, as well as all 18 of Underwood's No. 1 hits.
Fisher grew up in Peterborough, Ontario. He played hockey in the Peterborough Minor Hockey Association with the rep Minor Petes program, where he was drafted by the Sudbury Wolves. After putting up 49 points in 66 games in his first year with the Wolves, Fisher was drafted in the second round, 44th overall, by the Ottawa Senators in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. He played for the Senators before being traded in Feb. 10, 2011 to the Nashville Predators. In 2012, Fisher won the NHL Foundation Player Award.
So, how did this girl and boy from two different countries meet, marry and are now on the brink of being first-time parents? How it all came about is as wonderfully uplifting as the storyline of "The Sound of Music." The real-life romance of Underwood and Fisher began with an arranged introduction, a "hot" text message, months of long-distance phone calls, a first-ever New Year's Eve kiss and, eventually, a wedding with a surprise.
Underwood had dated, but with a whirlwind career dating wasn't always easy, nor was it always No. 1 on her agenda. Then, in 2008, Mark Childers, the bass player in the singer's band, came up with a great idea. He wanted to hook her up with Mike Fisher, a National Hockey League star who played at that time for the Ottawa Senators.
In a preview of her upcoming VH1 "Behind The Music Special," according to Examiner.com, Underwood, thinking back to that moment, declares with a laugh, "I mean, can I make dating more difficult? Let's get a hockey guy who lives in another country. Awesome."
She agreed to meet Fisher in October 2008, but she decided she did not want to go on a blind date with him, nor did she want their introduction to be a private one-on-one event. So, she had Childers arrange for the NHL star to come to a meet-and-greet session at one of her concerts, she revealed in "Behind the Music." The meet-and-greet was a buffer for her if Fisher was a dork -- or worse. "Because if he's weird, I don't wanna deal with it," she said.
Instead of a dork, Fisher turned out to be a hunk. After talking to him at the concert meet-and-greet, the country star texted Childers: "Hot, hot, hot."
What did Fisher think of her?
"First time I saw her, she was more beautiful in person than on TV," he confessed, according to Examiner.
"We talked on the phone for almost three months before we actually got together," the singer told Glamour, according to Us Magazine. "That was good for us. Then our first real date was on New Year's Eve, and our first kiss was when the ball dropped."
Looking back at that special night, Underwood is thankful for making the first move on the hunky hockey player. "We were in front of people, and he's not a big PDA guy," she told Glamour, according to Taste Of Country. "I figured, I'll go in for it because he can't leave me hanging, right? So I made him kiss me in public."
And during that first date, eating a dessert turned out to be a turning point, where they felt incredibly comfortable with each other. When Underwood started eating his dessert, while offering him some of her dessert, Fisher acknowledges with a grin, "That's when I kind of knew things were going OK."
They became engaged when Fisher proposed to Underwood on Dec. 20, 2009. Fisher announced the big news the next morning during the Senators' morning skate.
There are always surprises at weddings, but the "Blown Away" singer had a very thoughtful one for her husband at theirs. On July 10, 2010, the madly in love couple married at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. It was a large wedding with 250 guests in attendance. Underwood surprised her new husband by having one of their favorite music artists, Brandon Heath, sing his song "Love Never Fails" for their first dance, reports heavy.com.
While Underwood had dated both public figures and non-public figures in her past, she says everything just fit perfectly with Fisher. "He knew what to expect," Underwood says of one of the perks of dating and marrying a fellow star. "In Canada, he was a big celebrity, so he knows what it's like living under a microscope. And he travels a lot, which is good for both of us. We're both independent people, so we can't have somebody around 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"We can go weeks without seeing each other," she continues. "He's the only guy I've never had to worry about. Any guy I've ever dated, there would always be that doubt ... 'He didn't answer his phone ... what's he doing? It's late.' I'm not the crazy-girlfriend type, but there was a little voice in the back of my head. I don't have to worry about Mike. I don't think twice. He's going out? I don't care. It doesn't bother me. I don't bat an eye."
