Derek Hough really wants to be rock star

Sure, he's now in his third season on "Dancing With the Stars" (7 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4), but this is not something he's wanted to do all his life. He sort of got dragged into it by his mother and four sisters.

"At a very young age, my mom wanted me to dance," Hough said in an interview with the Deseret News. "She saw us as the blond Osmonds. You know, coming from Utah."

He was "playing a lot of sports" and had no interest. But he got dragged to his sisters' dance classes against his will.

"And my mom was, like, 'Why don't you go try and get involved?"' said Hough, who acquiesced. "I hated it. I couldn't believe I was being forced into doing this."

But before long, he changed his mind.

"The people were really nice. The girls were cute" and his dance teacher "was a cool guy and he got me into it."

When he turned 12, he and his younger sister, Julianne, moved to London to live with friends. What was supposed to be a three-month stay turned into a decade as Derek attended a performing arts school, competed in umpteen dance competitions and performed in London's West End — including a yearlong run in the lead of the musical "Footloose."

And then he came back and danced with Julianne, a two-time winner on "Stars," in an episode of the show. And dancing with his sister is also something he never much cared for.

"You know, my dad always wanted me and Julianne to get together and compete," Hough said. "And I always was like, 'Heck no! I do not want to dance with my sister. That's weird. That's random. It's awkward."

His appearance caught the attention of the producers, who signed him as one of the regular dancers. After partnering with Jennie Garth and Shannon Elizabeth, this season he's dancing with Brooke Burke.

But what Hough really wants to be is a rock star. Last month, he and his best friend/fellow dancer Mark Ballas — himself a "Dancing With the Stars" winner — signed a contract with Hollywood Records for their band, Almost Amy.

(The group also includes Emily Grace, Harry Sullivan and Sam Marder.)

"We've always done the music and the dancing together, growing up. The dancing just happened to come first as an opportunity," Hough said.

The band's name doesn't really mean anything. Hough said he and Ballas came up with it when they were 13 or 14.

"We went through a punk-rock phase and we were, like, "We need some sort of Emo name. I drew a logo with two A's and we said, 'We should be something with two A's.

"And not Alcoholics Anonymous.' We didn't know what that meant at the time."

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