
So winning Idol was just the big, fat cherry on top of a talent show sundae - and the culmination of a life spent working towards performance career. The year before she won Idol, the multitalented Sparks also won Torrid's search for the "Next Plus Size Model" and appeared in a Seventeen magazine ad for the clothing line. But before that, she appeared twice on America's Most Talented Kids, received two awards from the Gospel Music Association Academy and finished second at Music in the Rockies, a competition for aspiring contemporary Christian artists.


In 2007, the 17-year-old Sparks won American Idol.

You might call Jordin Sparks an amateur talent contest professional, although prodigy is perhaps more accurate.
