Jordin Brianna Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an American pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter and actress. At the age of 17, Sparks won the sixth season of American Idol, becoming the youngest winner in American Idol history and remains as the most recent female to win American Idol. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2007, which spawned two top-ten singles on the US Billboard Hot 100-"Tattoo" and "No Air" (with Chris Brown)-and was certified platinum by the RIAA. The album managed to sell more than two million copies worldwide. "No Air" is currently the third highest-selling single by any American Idol contestant, selling over three million digital copies in the US. The song earned Sparks her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Sparks' second studio album Battlefield was released in 2009, which debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, also titled "Battlefield", reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Sparks the only American Idol contestant to have her first five singles reach the top twenty on the chart. Battlefield's second single "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)", reached number one on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, becoming Sparks' first number-one single on the chart. Throughout her career, Sparks has won numerous awards, including a NAACP Image Awards, a BET Award, an American Music Award, a People's Choice Award and two Teen Choice Awards. In 2009, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 91st Artist of the 2000s Decade. In 2012, Sparks was ranked at number 92 on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music". As of February 2012, she has sold 1.3 million albums and 9.8 million singles in the United States alone, making her one of the most successful American Idol contestants of all time.
Sparks branched out from recording music, pursuing careers in acting and broadway, and designing perfumes. She made guest appearances on several television series, beginning with The Suite Life On Deck in 2009, and later in Big Time Rush in 2010. That same year, Sparks made her broadway debut in the musical, In The Heights, starring as Nina Rosario. She will make her feature film debut in a remake of the musical film, Sparkle (2012), which also stars Whitney Houston, Derek Luke, Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter. In October 2010, Sparks released her first perfume,Because of You..., which was followed by her second perfume, Fascinate, in March 2012. That same year, People magazine named Sparks as one of 2012's "Most Beautiful at Every Age".
Sparks was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Jodi Weidmann Sparks and former professional football player Phillippi Sparks. Sparks has a younger brother, Phillippi "PJ" Sparks, Jr., who plays football for the Fighting Sioux at the University of North Dakota. She grew up in the suburbs of Ridgewood, New Jersey, while her father played as a defensive back for the New York Giants. After living in New Jersey, Sparks attended Northwest Community Christian School in Phoenix through the eighth grade. Sparks attended Sandra Day O'Connor High School until 2006, when she was homeschooled to better concentrate on her singing. Sparks is an evangelical Christian and attends Calvary Community Church in Phoenix. On her American Idol biography, she thanks her parents and God for her win. She won an award for best young artist of the year in Arizona for three years.
Before appearing on American Idol, Sparks participated in and won such talent competitions as Coca-Cola's Rising Star, the Gospel Music Association Academy's Overall Spotlight Award, America's Most Talented Kids, Colgate Country Showdown, and the 2006 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search. Prior to Idol, Sparks frequently performed the national anthem at various local sporting events, notably for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Sparks also appeared with Alice Cooper in his 2004 Christmas show and toured with Christian contemporary singer Michael W. Smith in 2006. In 2006, Sparks was one of six winners of the Phoenix Torrid search for the "Next Plus Size Model". She was flown to California, where she was used in a number of Torrid ads and promotional pieces. A full-page ad for Torrid featuring Sparks ran in the December 2006 issue of Seventeen magazine.
On June 16, 2011, Sparks had her first-ever bikini shoot for the cover of People's Most Amazing Bodies issue. When speaking about her weight loss and diet to Access Hollywood, Sparks said, "My diet has pretty much remained the same, like if I want a piece of bread, I’m gonna have a piece of bread, but I’m making healthier decisions like instead of a bag of chips for a snack, I’ll see if I can find an apple. I’ve also upped my intake of vegetables and I’m drinking a lot more water.
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