Jordin Sparks' pneumonia scare caused weight loss battle

JORDIN SPARKS vowed to lose weight and turn her life around after a frightening brush with pneumonia.

The No Air singer is sporting a svelte new figure after losing 50 pounds (23 kilograms), and she reveals a health crisis shortly before her 21st birthday in 2010 prompted her to change her ways.

Sparks shows off her new body by sporting a bikini on the cover of America's Shape magazine, and she tells the publication her brush with pneumonia made her re-evaluate her life.

She says, "I just wanted to be healthy. It was just before my 21st birthday. I had walking pneumonia, couldn't breathe and felt totally fatigued. I remember thinking, 'I'm in my prime. I should be happy and fit.' That was the moment I decided that changes needed to be made... I knew I had a long road ahead of me. I was barely working out, and my diet was a mess. I had to address when, what, and how much I was eating...

"For me to even be talking about bikini confidence is crazy. If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I probably would have been like, 'What are you talking about?' So it's actually huge for me to even feel OK with putting a bikini on."