IN: Sparks was born in Phoenix, Arizona, to Jodi (nee Wiedmann) Sparks and former professional football player Phillippi Sparks. Sparks has a younger brother, Phillippi "PJ" Sparks, Jr., who plays football at Arizona Christian University. Her father is African-American and her mother is Caucasian. She grew up in the suburbs of Ridgewood, New Jersey, while her father played as a defensive back for the New York Giants.

On January 20, 2009, Sparks performed "Faith" at the Commander-in-Chief's Inaugural Ball hosted by President Barack Obama during the First inauguration of Barack Obama. Her second studio album, Battlefield was released in the United States on July 21, 2009. The album's title track was released as the lead single on May 25, 2009, and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked in the top five in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In the United States, Battlefield debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, peaking higher than her debut album's position of number ten. However, the album was notably unsuccessful compared to her debut, only selling 177,000 copies in the U.S and having failed to earn any chart certificates. In support of the album, Sparks opened for The Jonas Brothers on the North America leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009, starting on June 20, 2009. She also opened for Britney Spears on the second leg of her Circus Tour in North America, beginning on August 24, 2009. Sparks served as a replacement for Ciara. She opened with Kristinia DeBarge, Girlicious, and One Call. "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)", was released as the second single from Battlefield on September 15, 2009. The song topped the U.S Hot Dance Club Songs chart, becoming Sparks's first number one on the chart and peaked in the top fifteen in the United Kingdom. During this time, she recorded the duet, "Art of Love", with Australian artist Guy Sebastian for his fifth studio album, Like It Like That. The song reached the top ten in Australia and New Zealand and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The third single from Battlefield, "Don't Let It Go to Your Head", was released in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2010. In May 2010, Sparks embarked on her first headlining tour in the United States, the Battlefield Tour. It began on May 1, 2010, and ended on July 18, 2010, stopping in over 35 major cities in the United States. In support of the DVD/Blu-ray re-release of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast, Sparks recorded a cover of the film's title track for the soundtrack. A music video for the song was released on October 18, 2010.
QUESTION: Did she tour after releasing this album?
IN: Ai Kago (Jia Hu Ya Yi , Kago Ai), born February 7, 1988 in Yamatotokada, Nara, Japan, is a Japanese singer, actress, author, and former Guinness World Record holder. Kago began her career at the age of 12 as a member of the idol group Morning Musume. In the same year, she became a founding member of Minimoni.

After Kago departed from Up-Front Agency, her mother attempted to sign her to a new talent agency in her hometown, Nara. Later that year, Josei Seven published an interview with her mother, revealing that Kago left Japan and started residing in New York City. Kago herself later revealed that she had actually not gone to New York, but rather to Los Angeles for three months because she felt like a criminal in Japan. During her stay, she met people who encouraged her, including Winona Ryder, and was able to reflect on her situation. She also considered suicide and cut her wrists. Kago made a well-publicized return to the entertainment industry in 2008 with plans of pursuing an acting career. She began appearing in multiple Hong Kong movies, including Kung Fu Chefs. On August 25, 2008, Kago released a book entitled Kago Ai Live--Miseinen Hakusho (LIVE--Wei Cheng Nian Bai Shu ). On her blog, she described the book as "a book where I talk to young teens about their various troubles and dreams." During 2009, Kago also focused on rebuilding her music career. On June 24, 2009, she released her first solo single "No HesitAtIon" [sic] on independent record label In Da Groove. On February 16, 2010, she held her first jazz concert at bar JZ Brat in Tokyo. Kago's first jazz album, Ai Kago meets Jazz: The First Door, was released on March 31, 2010 through P-Vine Records and Avex Marketing. In August 2010 she was invited to perform at music festival Summer Sonic.
QUESTION: How did she make her return to entertainment?
IN: Steven Paul Smith was born at the Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of Gary Smith, a student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Bunny Kay Berryman, an elementary school music teacher. His parents divorced when he was six months old, and Smith moved with his mother to Duncanville, Texas. Smith later had a tattoo of a map of Texas drawn on his upper arm and said: "I didn't get it because I like Texas, kind of the opposite. But I won't forget about it, although I'm tempted to because I don't like it there."

His first release, Roman Candle (1994), came about when Smith's girlfriend at the time convinced him to send a tape of "the most recent eight songs that [he'd] recorded on borrowed four-tracks and borrowed guitar" to Cavity Search Records. Owner Christopher Cooper immediately requested to release the entire album of songs, which surprised Smith, as he was expecting only a deal for a seven-inch record. Regarding the record, Smith said: "I thought my head would be chopped off immediately when it came out because at the time it was so opposite to the grunge thing that was popular ... The thing is that album was really well received, which was a total shock, and it immediately eclipsed [Heatmiser], unfortunately." Smith felt his solo songs were not representative of the music Heatmiser was making: "The idea of playing [my music] for people didn't occur to me... because at the time it was the Northwest--Mudhoney and Nirvana--and going out to play an acoustic show was like crawling out on a limb and begging for it to be sawed off." The instrumentation of the recordings was primarily acoustic guitar, occasionally accompanied by brief electric guitar riffs or a small drum set played with brushes. Only the final track, an instrumental titled "Kiwi Maddog 20/20" (a reference to the low-end fortified wine), had full band instrumentation. One of Smith's first solo performances was at the now-defunct Umbra Penumbra on September 17, 1994. Only three songs from Roman Candle were performed, with the majority of the ten-song set being B-sides, Heatmiser tunes and unreleased tracks. Soon after this performance, Smith was asked to open for Mary Lou Lord on a week-long U.S. tour. She later recorded one of his songs, "I Figured You Out", which he had discarded for sounding "too much like the Eagles". The same year, Smith released a split 7" single with Pete Krebs, contributing the track "No Confidence Man" as the single's B-side.
QUESTION:
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?