Joe Nichols recently scored a No.1 with his hit, 'Gimmie That Girl.' But the singer, who has been very open about his history of substance abuse, says his career might have been over if not for the love of his wife, Heather Singleton.

"She's a very strong woman. She's tough as nails," Joe tells Ladies Home Journal. "I've seen her take a very impossible situation -- me -- and work with it. She's actually tough enough to look me in the face and say, 'No, you're not going to get away with that.' So intestinal fortitude -- she's got a lot of it. And I think a lot of my success, especially my latter success, is because of her."

Not that their marriage is perfect. The couple, who are hoping to add a baby to their family in the near future, see their marriage as a work in progress. "I think we kind of rub when I get very passionate about something," he says. "I do a lot of my thinking on emotion and what my gut says, and just, boom -- I want to handle it right now. She's much more the, 'Hey, just give it a second, let's think about it' type. So our biggest rub is probably our two personalities."

Joe's new single, 'The Shape I'm In,' already looks like a promising follow-up to his last chart-topping hit. "I listen to '[The Shape I'm In]' and think, 'I would buy a record because of this song.' The lyric is a very likable lyric that doesn't offend anybody. It's about a guy that comes out of a breakup and says, you know, I'm hanging in there, I'm doing all right and getting better."

Joe will spend most of the next few months performing his hits all over the country. Click here for a peek at his busy tour schedule.

More From TheBoot