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Kortney Wilson (born February 8, 1979, as Kortney Galerno) is a Canadian actress,
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer, real estate professional, designer, and television presenter, best known as cohost with her former husband Dave Wilson of home renovation programming for HGTV Canada.


Background

She was born in
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,"Former Kitchener resident and reality TV star Kortney Wilson and her husband Dave promoting their new book"
''
Waterloo Region Record The ''Waterloo Region Record'' (formerly ''The Record'') is the daily newspaper covering Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario, Water ...
'', February 21, 2019.
and spent her childhood in
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...
"Former Sudbury resident now a TV star and author"
''
Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began ...
'', March 28, 2019.
before her family moved to Kitchener when she was 13.


Musical career

As a youth in 1994, she was performing as Annie with Royal City Musical Productions in
Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...
. By 1998 she had signed a management deal with Scream Marketing and Christy DiNapoli, a publishing deal with Scream Music Publishing in Nashville, and was working with Reba McEntire. In 2001, she issued two singles as Kortney Kayle on
Lyric Street Records Lyric Street Records was the Disney Music Group's country music record label, founded in 1997 by Randy Goodman. The label had its first successes in 1998 with singles by Lari White and Aaron Tippin, both formerly of RCA Records. Other artists w ...
, but her debut album never materialized. By October 2001, she had left the label. Her highest charting single was "Unbroken by You", which reached No. 50 in 2001. She also recorded with Dave as a duo. In 2001, Kortney Wilson also made several appearances on the soap opera, ''
One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...
''. She co-wrote
Ryan Tyler Ryan McPherson Rygmyr (born October 6, 1973), known professionally as Ryan Tyler, is an American country music artist. Signed to the Arista Nashville label, charted two singles: "Run, Run, Run" in 2003 and "The Last Thing She Said". Biography Ry ...
's 2003 single "Run, Run, Run", which was also released by Krysta Scoggins. Kortney Wilson was also signed to
Open Road Recordings Open Road Recordings, a division of RGK Entertainment Group Ltd., is a Canadian record label specializing in country music. it was established by Ron Kitchener in 2003 and distributed through Universal Music Group, Universal Music Canada. The lab ...
with Dave Wilson as The Wilsons. Dave had also recorded for Lyric Street. They later lost their recording deal and turned to other jobs and eventually to renovating and
flipping In finance, flipping is purchasing an asset to quickly resell (or "flip") it for profit. Within the real estate industry, the term is used by investors to describe the process of buying, rehabbing, and selling properties for profit. In 2017, 207, ...
houses in Nashville. Music videos by The Wilsons years earlier, including ''Marry Me Again'', ''Stick Together'' and ''Mine All Mine'', continued to air on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
as of August 2018. Another music video featuring Kortney Wilson in 2001, under the stage name ''Kortney Kayle'', titled ''Something To Cry About (Unreleased Song)'', was also still airing on YouTube.


Subsequent career

In 2006, Kortney and Dave Wilson did some cosmetic renovations on a home and sold it, at a $30,000 profit. The couple realized they could earn additional money by flipping other houses, initially part-time while continuing in music and other part time work. Eventually, this would become a full time business and later, the basis for their HGTV television programs. In 2008, Kortney Wilson got her real estate licence and she also took over the design aspects of the homes they were renovating. In the next year, the Wilson family began to star in the
CMT Canada CMT is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment (which owns a controlling 90% interest) and Paramount Networks Americas (which owns the remaining 10%), owners of the flagshi ...
reality series ''Meet the Wilsons'' about trying to juggle a family (two children at that time) while pursuing music careers. In 2015, they began working on their new series about buying, renovating and flipping houses, '' Masters of Flip'', originally on the W Network."Canadian country musicians look to real estate". ''
Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, owned by Postmedia Network. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is the only New ...
'', May 8, 2015.
As of mid-2018, the series was running on
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
in the US and Canada but also aired in numerous other countries. In May 2018, HGTV also began airing another reno/flip series with the Wilsons, ''Music City Fix''; in the ten episodes, the couple renovated a "crumbling Craftsman bungalow" in historic
East Nashville, Tennessee East Nashville is an area east of downtown Nashville in Tennessee across the Cumberland River. The area is mostly residential and mixed-use areas with businesses lining the main boulevards. The main thoroughfares are Gallatin Ave (also known a ...
, while striving to retain as much of the original character as possible. ''Masters of Flip'' ended after its fourth season, with the couple moving on to produce and host the new HGTV series '' Making it Home with Kortney and Dave''. After the Wilsons' divorce, Dave Wilson left the show, which continued with
Kenny Brain Kenny Brain (born August 26, 1988) is a Canadian television personality, best known as cohost with Kortney Wilson of the HGTV Canada home renovation series '' Making it Home with Kortney and Kenny''.Alex Kennedy"This N.L. model turned contractor ...
replacing Dave as the contractor.


Personal life

Kortney Wilson has joint Canadian/American citizenship. Kortney Wilson was born in
Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...
, but grew up in
Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...
and then in
Ayr, Ontario Ayr is a community in Ontario, Canada that is located within the Township of North Dumfries in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario. Ayr is located south of Kitchener and west of Cambridge. History The village later ...
, Canada, before moving to Nashville at age 18. She was with Dave Wilson for 18 years and married for 14 of those. The couple first met when Dave (originally from
Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
) was working in England as part of a band, but was in Nashville on a writing vacation; he did not return to London after meeting Kortney. The couple announced on December 20, 2019, that they are separating and will divorce. They have two biological children, Jett and Sully and an adopted daughter, Lennox Esmee. In July 2021, Wilson introduced her Instagram followers to her boyfriend, Ryan and has continued to share relationship photos. In October 2021, Scoop Nashville reported that Wilson's 17-year old son, Jett filed for emancipation so he could pursue his career as a day-trader. He cited he was miserable living with his mother and was aided in his court filing by his father. Jett confirmed this report on his personal Instagram account.


Discography


Scrapped album

Wilson, while under the name Kortney Kayle, began work on her debut studio album titled ''No Turning Back'' in late 1999 with producer
David Malloy David Ernest Malloy is an American country music and pop songwriter, record producer and A&R executive with 41 number one hits in some category. He has received multiple Grammy nominations, as writer and/or producer, and has worked with many ...
and extra production by
Mark Bright Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former Association football, footballer. Born to a The Gambia, Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early a ...
. According to Wilson, she wanted the album to be quite energetic and garner attention. While it was scheduled for release on August 28, 2001, it was cancelled altogether following the commercial failure of its singles and Wilson's departure from Lyric Street.


Singles

"Don't Let Me Down" was released on February 20, 2001. It debuted and peaked at number 60 on the US
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart the week of March 24, 2001. "Unbroken by You" was the second and final single, released on May 7, 2001. It debuted at number 53 on June 9, 2001, and rose to a mini-scule peak of number 50.


Track listing


Singles


Music videos


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Kortney 1979 births Living people Canadian interior designers Canadian television hosts Canadian women country singers Actresses from Windsor, Ontario Musicians from Windsor, Ontario Singers from Ontario 21st-century Canadian women singers Lyric Street Records artists Canadian women designers