Jordin Brianna Sparks (born December 22, 1989)is an American pop/R&B singer, songwriter and plus-size model. On May 23, 2007, she was declared the winner of the sixth season of American Idol.
Early life
Sparks was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Jodi Weidmann and former NFL defensive back Phillippi Sparks. She has a younger brother PJ (Phillippi Sparks, Jr) who plays football himself. She lived briefly in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and attended Orchard Elementary School. After living in New Jersey, Sparks 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. She is of African American and Caucasian descent, and stands 5'10" tall.
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 wears a purity ring that symbolizes her desire to remain pure until marriage. 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. On her MySpace page, she displayed a picture of herself posing next to a sign that said "Stop Abortion Now", creating some controversy.
Before-Idol
In 2006, 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.
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, along with Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and, most recently, David Cook. (Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard was in the bottom 2 once, and season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino landed 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.[9][10] 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.[11][12]
Along with television and radio appearances,Sparks has been on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and World and featured in VIBE, TV Guide, Glamour, Your Prom, 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[14] (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.
Sparks appeared on The Tyra Banks Show in early 2008, with Banks saying she wanted Sparks for a role in a television project she was working on.[citation needed]
Sparks was the opening act for Alicia Keys on the U.S. leg of her As I Am tour. Before going on tour, she performed "No Air" with Chris Brown on the April 10, 2008 results show as part of Idol Gives Back. She was also to appear on the GMA Dove Awards as part of a tribute to Michael W. Smith.
A potentially career-threatening throat injury forced Sparks to cancel a few weeks of shows. Officials said that she was suffering an acute vocal cord hemorrhage, and was ordered to strict vocal rest until the condition improved. If it had not improved, it may have required laser microsurgery. Her first concert originally was scheduled as an opener for Alicia Keys on Saturday, April 19, 2008. She was back on the road with Alicia Keys by April 30. She remained on the tour until the last show on June 18.
Sparks will team up with cosmetics company, Avon, to become a spokesperson for the teen-focused line Mark.
Sparks performed "One Step at a Time" at Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular for the second year in a row.
Sparks will co-headline tour along with Jesse McCartney in August 2008.
Sparks recently joined with the Web site DoSomething.org and Staples Inc. to resolve the problem with a national back-to-school supply drive.
2007-present: Jordin Sparks
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. David Archuleta (Season 7, runner up) also joined the label group last May 2008, making them the only two Idol who signed a contract with them. 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, and successor David Cook) labels, with the exception of Carrie Underwood who signed to Arista Nashville. Sparks has stated that she recorded some songs with Heath Thurman on drums 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.
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 Sparks to find a secure future.
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. Later, on March 11, 2008, "Tattoo" was released on 'Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 27' as the sixth track on the album, along with 19 other chart-topping hits of early 2008.
After the release of Tattoo, Sparks' official website ran a poll asking fans to vote for what her next single should be, the choices being "No Air", "Freeze", "One Step at a Time," or "Shy Boy". On February 3, 2008, it was announced that "No Air" had won the vote, and was being added to radio stations. The song became a hit before it was officially released as a single, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four consecutive weeks. On June 3, 2008, "No Air" was released on 'Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 28' as the ninth track on the album, along with 19 other hits from 2008.
"One Step at a Time" is the third single from the album and was officially released in the U.S. on June 10, 2008.
Sparks is the only Idol from outside Australia to top the ARIA Singles Chart with "No Air". Sparks' singles have sold 7 million units around the world.
Timbaland said in an interview that Jordin will be one of the collabrations on his forthcoming album Shock Value 2
In 2007, Sparks was asked by a relative who works for SOS Children's Villages - USA in Florida to design a Swarovski Crystal jean jacket to support oprhans.
Syndication
