BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Former "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard is getting ready for a weekend wedding.
Studdard, nicknamed the "Velvet Teddy Bear" on "Idol" in 2003 for his big frame and sonorous voice, will marry Surata Zuri McCants, his girlfriend of two years, at the Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook on Saturday.
He met his bride-to-be during a CD-signing at a Wal-Mart store in Atlanta in October 2006. The 29-year-old singer says he was struck by McCants' beauty and later tracked her down in the toy department and asked for her telephone number.
Studdard is set to release a new album later this year.
