'Idol' Jordin Sparks comes home to Phoenix to sing World Series Game 3 national anthem

Glendale's Jordin Sparks is back in Arizona to sing the national anthem before the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Texas Rangers in Game 3 of the 2023 World Series at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.

Sparks rose to fame on “American Idol," becoming the youngest singer in the history of the show to win it all, at 17, on Season 6.

She made her first appearance on the Hot 100 in that same year, 2007, with "This Is My Now," her "Idol" coronation single, which peaked at No. 15.

But she really hit her stride with the follow-up hit, "Tattoo," a platinum smash that peaked at No. 8.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Sparks said the song is about the kind of person you can't just erase from your memory if things go wrong. "They're stuck there," she said, "like a tattoo."

Subsequent hits include "One Step at a Time," "Battlefield" and the single that remains her biggest hit, the Chris Brown duet "No Air."

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Prior to winning “American Idol,” a 14-year-old Sparks won Alice Cooper’s Proof Is in the Pudding competition and opened for the shock-rock legend at his annual Christmas Pudding concert.

Sparks was born in Phoenix to Jodi Wiedmann Sparks and Phillippi Sparks, a Maryvale High School grad who was drafted by the New York Giants in 1992. He was with the Giants until 1999 and played one season for the Dallas Cowboys after that.

Jordin's younger brother, Phillippi "PJ" Sparks Jr., played football at Arizona Christian University.

Sparks lived in the suburbs of Ridgewood, New Jersey, while her dad was playing for the Giants, but was back in Phoenix in time to go to Northwest Community Christian School through eighth grade, attending Sandra Day O’Connor High School until 2006.

She was homeschooled by her grandmother, Pam Wiedmann, after leaving Sandra Day O’Connor to focus on her singing.

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Sparks is no stranger to singing the national anthem at Arizona sporting events

While living in the Phoenix area, Sparks, an evangelical Christian, attended Calvary Community Church.

Prior to "Idol," she frequently performed the national anthem at local sporting events, including games by the Phoenix Suns, the Arizona Cardinals and the Diamondbacks.

She also performed at Valley Youth Theatre.

In 2006, by which point the family was living in Glendale, Sparks was one of six winners in the Phoenix Torrid search for the Next Plus Size Model. She was featured in Torrid ads and promotional pieces, including a full-page ad in the December 2006 issue of Seventeen magazine.

That same year, she won another local talent competition, Arizona Idol, conducted by Phoenix Fox station KSAZ-TV.

While competing on "Idol," she received intense hometown support, which she's never forgotten.

In 2017, she told The Arizona Republic, "It was amazing. People I had never even met were coming together to vote for me. I had no clue. There was no Instagram or Twitter back then. I thought, 'Oh, cool, my nana will vote for me.' And then when I got to come back and see the support and all the people that came out, I'll never forget that. Arizona will always have my heart."

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Here's why Jordin Sparks is singing World Series national anthem