MY FOREVER VALENTINE

After a chance encounter, Canadian singer Jully Black is headed down the aisle with the man of her dreams - who lets her be truly 'Jully'

- AMY BIELBY

Some things are meant to be - just ask Canadian R&B singer Jully Black. While on a Jamaican cruise in December 2023, a man on the ship caught her eye, over and over again.

“I prayed,” she tells Hello! “I said, ‘If this man is for me, put him in my path.’”

The next day, Jully - rushing along the deck with her head down and her arms full of beverages - nearly ran right into the handsome stranger. Egged on by her best friend, she summoned up the courage to start a conversation with the passenger they'd been referring to as “The Man with the Lips.”

His name, she learned, was Marcus Valentine - or simply Valentine or Val, as nicknamed by his U.S. Marines buddies. For a woman who loves love, the romantic moniker couldn't have been more fitting.

Jully, 47, and Val - born in Georgia and living in Washington, D.C., where he works for the U.S. Federal Government - shared an instant connection and, despite the distance, embarked on a whirlwind romance.

After two special proposals - one at home on Easter Sunday and a more extravagant fairytale moment at Toronto's picturesque Casa Loma in the summer - wedding planning is well underway for the entertainer, who also has a Canadian tour to complete before saying “I do” in Jamaica this June.