Hilary Weeks (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

'', Novakovich; born March 7, 1970) is an American

Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aro ...

ian and

Latter-Day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

singer, who primarily plays a

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognitio ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

music version of

Christian country A Christian state is a country that recognizes a form of Christianity as its official religion and often has a state church (also called an established church), which is a Christian denomination that supports the government and is supported by ...

and Christian pop. She has released ten musical works, with eight of those being studio albums, ''He Hears Me'' (1996), ''Lead Me Home'' (1998) and ''I Will Not Forget'' (2000), ''Day of Praise'' (2004), ''If I Only Had Today'' (2008), ''Every Step'' (2011), ''Say Love'' (2013), ''Say Love'' (2013), and, ''Love Your Life'' (2016), while she released two holiday albums, ''Christmastime'' (2006) and ''Christmas Once Again'' (2009). Her last four musical works charted on various ''Billboard'' magazine charts.

Early life

Weeks was born Hilary Novakovich, on March 7, 1970, in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, while she was raised in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

. She graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

with her baccalaureate of

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

in 1993 from their music department.

Music career

Her music recording career started in 1996, with the studio album, ''He Hears Me'', that was released by

Deseret Book Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...

. She then went onto release four more studio albums, ''Lead Me Home'' in 1998, ''I Will Not Forget'' in 2000, ''Day of Praise'' in 2004, ''If I Only Had Today'' on September 17, 2008. While her next two albums, ''Every Step'' and ''Say Love'', released on October 25, 2011 and September 9, 2013, correspondingly, while they charted each on three ''Billboard'' magazine charts, The ''Billboard'' 200 at Nos. 102 and 161, respectively,

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan Luminate (formerly Niels ...

at Nos. 6 and 9, correspondingly, and Independent Albums at Nos. 23 and 30, respectively. She was the first Mormon to have an album peak in the Top-10 of the Christian Albums chart. The eighth studio album, ''Love Your Life'', was released on September 16, 2016, and it charted on the Christian Albums chart at No. 7, and Independent Albums chart at No. 24. She has released two holiday albums, ''Christmastime'', on November 7, 2006, and her most commercially successful one, ''Christmas Once Again'', on October 13, 2009, where it peaked at Nos. 26 and 40 on the Holiday Albums and

Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

charts.

Personal life

She is married to Timothy Weeks, and they have four daughters, residing in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Weeks was called by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' one of the "'40 Women to Watch Over 40,'" .

Discography

Studio albums Holiday albums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Hilary 1970 births Living people American Latter Day Saints Musicians from Alaska Musicians from Colorado Musicians from Utah Songwriters from Alaska Songwriters from Colorado Songwriters from Utah Brigham Young University alumni