This young singer made it big when she won the sixth season of American Idol. Winning at the age of 17, she was the youngest winner on the show to date. Jordin Sparks has been working hard to make a name for herself. She has been releasing albums and providing hit singles to the fans that voted for her.

Jordin Sparks

"I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody - guy or girl - wants to be a slut."

This young singer made it big when she won the sixth season of American Idol. Winning at the age of 17, she was the youngest winner on the show to date. Jordin Sparks has been working hard to make a name for herself. She has been releasing albums and providing hit singles to the fans that voted for her.

Young Life

In Phoenix, December of 1989, Jordin Sparks was born. She lived in New Jersey briefly and went to Orchard Elementary School. Also, she attended Noecker Elementary, also in New Jersey. They then moved back to Phoenix where she attended the Northwest Community Christian School. She did not finish her time at Sandra Day O'Connor High School. She instead began to home school in 2006 so that she could focus more on her singing.

She won many talent competitions before ever trying out for American Idol. She was in the Gospel Music Association Academy as well as America's Most Talented Kids, Coca Cola's Rising Star, Colgate Country Showdown as well as the 2006 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search.

In addition to singing, she also modeled. She was one of the winners for the Phoenix Torrid Next Plus Size Model. Jordin was even in a full page ad that was in Seventeen magazine's December 2006 issue.

American Idol

Jordin Sparks auditioned for the show American Idol during the summer of 2006. Prior to trying out, she had won the local Arizona Idol. On the show, she was a force to be reckoned with. She quickly became a fan favorite with her sweet disposition and powerhouse voice. She was never voted in the bottom three for the entire season. Her very loyal fans began to call themselves the 'Sparkplugs'. In May of 2007, she was named the newest winner of American Idol.

Not all winners of American Idol have gone on to have successful careers. This meant simply that Jordin would have to work that much harder to prove that she had what it takes to become a superstar.

After Idol

Jordin hit the ground running. And while her American Idol songs began to get a lot of free mp3 downloads, she found herself on several television shows promoting her American Idol song, This Is My Now. Blake Lewis, the runner up of the competition was able to outsell her in digital singles. But Jordin was able to sell more albums than him.

In part with her American Idol contract, Jordin went on tour with American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007 from July to September.

New Career

During the summer of 2007, Jordin signed to 19 Recordings. November of that same year her debut album released. Her self titled album, Jordin Sparks found success with the first single, Tattoo. In addition to being a top ten hit, it was released on Now That's What I Call Music volume 27.

Jordin found even more success with her next single No Air, her collaboration with Chris Brown. This song made it all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was at this time that she began to open for Alicia Keys. During this time, she suffered from acute vocal cord hemorrhage. This caused her to cancel a few weeks worth of shows. Luckily, surgery was not needed and she was able to get back on the tour after just a couple of weeks.

Her third single, One Step at a Time came out the summer of 2008. This song made it into the top 20 of the Hot 100 charts. At this time, she co-headlined a tour with Jesse McCartney.

Continued Success

She was nominated for two VMAs in September of 2008. While she did not win either award, she did win an AMA for Favorite Artist in the Adult Contemporary Category. Jordin began to tour with Alicia Keys once again in December of 2008.

Jordin was able to see better production as well as a higher profile with her second album thanks to the success of her first. Her first single from the album is entitled Battlefield. This song was not only produced but also written by Ryan Tedder. With this song, she was able to see the Billboard Hot 100 chart once again. This song made it to the top 10. The album was released during the summer of 2009.

Versatile

The winter of 2008, she got together with Wet Seal to make her own line of clothing. The collection is aptly named Sparks. It began with holiday dresses and will eventually include casual apparel.

She has recently made her acting debut on Disney's Suite Life on Deck. She played herself.

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