Jordin Sparks Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Jordin Brianna Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an American pop singer. On May 23, 2007, she was declared the winner of the sixth season of the reality television show American Idol. Sparks won at the age of 17, making her the youngest winner in American Idol history.

Biography

Early life

Sparks was born in Gongtong, Arizona to Jodi Weidman and Philippi Sparks, a former football player for the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys who at the time was playing in college for the Arizona State Sun Devils. She has a younger brother PJ (Phillippi Sparks, Jr). She lived briefly in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and attended Orchard Elementary School. After living in New Jersey, Jordin attended Northwest Community Christian School in Phoenix, Arizona through the eighth grade. Sparks attended Sandra Day O'Connor High School until 2006, then she was homeschooled to better concentrate on her singing.

Religious faith

Sparks is a committed Christian and attends Calvary Community Church in Phoenix, Arizona. On her "American Idol" biography, she thanks her parents and God for her win. She also appeared on the cover of World, an Evangelical Christian news magazine. She won an award for best young artist of the year in Arizona for three years. She endorsed Michelle Buckmon's Christian novels for teens: Maggie Come Lately and My Beautiful Disaster. On her MySpace page, she displayed a picture of herself posing next to a man that said "Stop Abortion Now", creating some controversy.

Before-Idol

In 2006, Jordin Sparks won second place in the 2006 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search.

Sparks appeared on the January 17, 2007 broadcast of American Idol, earning a "gold ticket" and the right to appear in the Hollywood Round. American Idol judge Randy Jackson made the offhand prediction that "Curly hair will win this year," which he admitted wasn't Sparks. Before going on to American Idol, she had won Arizona Idol. In 2006, Sparks was one of six winners who won 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.

American Idol 2007

Audition

Week #	Song Choice	Original Artist	Result
Top 24	"Give Me One Reason"	Tracy Chapman	Safe
Top 20	"Reflection"	Christina Aguilera	Safe
Top 16	"Heartbreaker"	Pat Benatar	Safe
Top 12	"If We Hold On Together" from "The Land Before Time"	Diana Ross	Safe
Top 11	"I (Who Have Nothing)"	Tom Jones/Shirley Bassey	Safe
Top 10	"Hey Baby"	No Doubt	Safe
Top 9	"On a Clear Day"	Tony Bennett	Safe Top 3
Top 8	"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You"	Gloria Estefan	Safe
Top 7	"A Broken Wing"	Martina McBride	Safe
Top 6	"You'll Never Walk Alone"	Rodgers and Hammerstein	Safe Non-Elimination Week
Top 6	"Livin' on a Prayer"	Bon Jovi	Safe
Top 4	"To Love Somebody" "Woman in Love"	Bee Gees Barbra Streisand / Bee Gees	Safe
Top 3	"Wishing On A Star" "She Works Hard for the Money" "I (Who Have Nothing)" (Encore)	Rose Royce Donna Summer Shirley Bassey	Safe
Finale	"Fighter" "A Broken Wing" (Encore) "This Is My Now"	Christina Aguilera Martina McBride Jordin Sparks	Winner

Semi-finals/Finals notes

Sparks was never in danger of elimination. Sparks is the fourth contestant to have won without ever being in the bottom 2 or 3, joining Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Hicks. (Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard was in the bottom 2 once, and season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino landed in there twice).

Post-Idol Career

Sparks' songs from the American Idol have been on sale at the iTunes Store and the American Idol official website as Jordin Sparks - EP (called a "bundle" on Idol official website) shortly after the finale of Idol, along with other songs that did not make the EP's cut that are being sold as individual singles. According to SoundScan figures posted in USA Today, Blake Lewis sold more digital singles than Sparks, but her mini album sold more than Lewis'.

After the finale of Idol, Sparks has made several appearances on television shows. She performed the finale song, "This Is My Now"on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Early Show and The View. Sparks had also appeared on Total Request Live, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet with the runner-up of Idol, Blake Lewis, Larry King Live with contestants who made into the top ten of American Idol. and 106 & Park. On July 4, 2007, Sparks performed "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" on Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular with Lewis and Melinda Doolittle.

Along with television and radio appearances,Sparks has been on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and World and featured in VIBE, TV Guide, Glamour and other publications.

Sparks took part in the "American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007" from July 6 to September 23, 2007, along with other contestants in the top ten. She revealed in an AOL interview that the concert will be more group collaborations and duets as well as bringing along her acoustic guitar.

Sparks sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLII (the song was then made available on iTunes the next day) as well as performed for Diana Ross for the 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors. She performed on New Years Eve Live on FOX alongside Blake Lewis. She also performed "Tattoo" at the NBA Rookie game during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Jordin will be the opening act for Alicia Keys on the US leg of her As I Am tour. Before going on tour, she is expected to perform "No Air" with Chris Brown on the April 10 results show as part of Idol Gives Back. She will appear on the GMA Dove Awards as part of a tribute to Michael W. Smith.

On a recent episode of the Tyra Banks Show, Tyra Banks told Jordin that she was producing a scripted television series and had Jordin in mind for a part on the show.

Jordin will team up with cosmetics company, Avon, to be the first spokesperson for the teen-focused line Mark.

2007-present: Jordin Sparks

See Jordin Sparks (album) for more information On August 17, 2007, it was announced Sparks had signed to 19 Recordings/Jive Records/Zomba Label Group, becoming the first Idol winner to join the label group. All past Idol winners and runner-ups have signed with the RCA Label Group"s J (Fantasia, Ruben Studdard), Arista (Taylor Hicks) or RCA (Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Katharine McPhee) labels, with the exception of Carrie Underwood signed to Arista Nashville. Sparks has stated that she recorded some songs for the album but the bulk of the recording would be done in Los Angeles after the tour is over. She said the album would be "Top 40, radio-friendly, uplifting stuff" hopefully mixing "the pop rock sound of inaugural Idol Kelly Clarkson with the R&B edge of Beyonce". Her debut album came out on November 20 and November 27, 2007. On The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, it was mentioned that the album had gone gold.

The album came out to generally favorable reviews. Some critics felt Sparks' vocals were not suited for modern pop music while others thought the album's atypical American Idol material helped Jordin to find a secure future in today's ever-changing music landscape.

Along with the label announcement, the first single was revealed to be "Tattoo", which was released to U.S. radio on August 27, 2007. The song became the album's first top ten single. After the rlease of Tattoo, Jordin's official website ran a poll asking fans to for what her next single should be, the choices being "No Air", "Freeze", "One Step at a Time," or "Shy Boy". On Sunday February 3rd it was announced that "No Air" had won the vote, and was being added to radio stations. The song became a huge hit before it was officially released as a single, and so far it has reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has since been announced that "One Step at a Time" will be released in April 2008.

A potentially career-threatening throat injury has forced her to cancel three shows over the weekend. Officials say that she is suffering a vocal cord hemorrhage, that if it does not improve, may require laser microsurgery.

Tours

2008: As I Am Tour (Supporting Act)

Discography

The following article is a complete discography of every album and single released by American pop/R&B music artist Jordin Sparks.

Albums

Statistics	Singles
Jordin Sparks Released: November 20 2007 Peak chart positions: #10 U.S #14 United World Chart RIAA Certification: Gold U.S sales: 656,000+ Label: 19 Recordings/Jive/Zomba Label Group	"This Is My Now" "Tattoo" "No Air" "One Step At A Time"

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions								Album
Year	Title	U.S. Hot	U.S. Pop	U.S. R&B	CAN	NZ	AUS	UK	UWC	Album
2007	"This Is My Now"	15	16	-	25	-	-	-	-	Jordin Sparks
2007	"Tattoo"	8	6	-	3	-	5	50	14
2008	"No Air" (featuring Chris Brown)	3	2	12	3	1	TBR	58	8
2008	"One Step At A Time"	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR	TBR

Other charted songs

Year	Title	Chart positions		Album
Year	Title	U.S. Hot	U.S. Pop	Album
2007	"A Broken Wing"	66	64	Jordin Sparks (EP)
2007	"I (Who Have Nothing)"	80	-	Jordin Sparks (EP)

EPs

Album information
For Now Released: November, 2003 (U.S) RIAA certification: N/A
Jordin Sparks - EP Released: May 24, 2007 (U.S) Chart Performance: (U.S. Billboard Top Digital Albums): 2

Featured-on albums

Live at Mr. Lucky's (2004) "He Thinks I Still Care"
American Idol Season 6: Greatest Hits (2007) "This Is My Now"
American Idol Season 6: The Collector's Edition (2007)

Soundtracks

This Christmas (2007) "I'll Be Home For Christmas"

Unreleased songs

Before appearing on Idol, on Sparks' old website, new songs were released on it. The first three were co-written with Gary Leach. However, none of these songs were added to Sparks' debut album.

"The Inside"
"When The Pain Goes Away"
"Just Me"
"Crazy"
"Give Me One Reason"
"Reflection"

Accomplishments

Honors

Sprite Rising Star 2002
Family Night Talent Show Five-time 1st Place Finals Winner at Mr. Lucky's in Glendale, Arizona, 2003
Glendale Youth Fest 2003: Teen Talent Show, 1st Place
GMA (Gospel Music Association) Academy, Washington, D.C., Overall Spotlight Winner & Country/Southern Gospel First Place Winner, 2004
Country Thunder Young Guns Second Place Winner, 2004
The Proof Is In The Pudding Talent Winner, Phoenix, Arizona, 2004
NBC/PAX America's Most Talented Kids, 2005
Colgate Country Showdown, Arizona state title, 2006.
Runner-up in the 2007 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search, Tempe, Arizona
Plus-size model search winner for Torrid
Winner of KSAZ Fox 10's "Arizona Idol" contest, giving her a guaranteed chance to audition in front of the judges.
American Idol Winner, May 2007

Awards

Year	Award/Nomination
2007	Teen Choice Awards nomination for Choice Female Reality/Variety Star
2008	NAACP Image Award won for Best New Artist

Footnotes

This biography article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jordin Sparks". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.