Faith Evans

Categories: 1973 births | African American musicians | Female singers | Italian-Americans | People from New Jersey | R&B musicians | Singer-songwriters | Soul musicians | Dance Top 40 acts in United States | Rhythmic Top 40 acts

For other uses, see Faith Evans (disambiguation).

Faith Renee Evans (born June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida and grew up in Newark, New Jersey) is an R&B singer/songwriter who rose to fame even while under the shadows of her famous late husband, hip-hop icon The Notorious B.I.G.. Evans' father is Italian-American; her mother is African-American.

Biography

After several years perfoming jazz standards at clubs and dropping out of college after her freshman year, the daughter of a white rocker and R&B backup singer decided to begin a music career, first with a young musician named Kiyamma Griffin, and later with rising hip-hop/R&B record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was forming his own label, Bad Boy Records at the time.

The breadwinner of that label was a big, young rapper from Brooklyn, New York named Christopher Wallace. Evans took a liking to the young rapper because of his charm and a love affair resumed in what later became a quickie marriage 10 days after meeting each other. Before the marriage, though, Evans was signed to Bad Boy and became the first female artist of the label -- and the most successful artist second to her new husband.

Everyone first got a look at Faith when she was featured on the remix to Biggie's 1995 hit, "One More Chance". Beforehand, Faith had become to branch out as a talented songwriter penning hits for Mary J. Blige and Intro. She finally released her long-awaited debut in the fall of 1995. The self-titled "Faith" CD became a hit based on the songs "Soon as I Get Home", "You Used to Love Me" and "Ain't Nobody".

The album reached platinum status by the time a rap war had become raging between Biggie and prolific rapper Tupac Shakur, which turned personal for both after Tupac alleged that he had slept with Evans. Faith, who was pregnant with Biggie's child, was outraged because she said she had only met Tupac for a recording.

The rivalry turned ugly after Tupac's tragic death in September, 1996 at Las Vegas. Some had speculated Biggie may had taken part in his death as well as the 1994 shooting of Tupac in New York before he was to be in a recording session and this triggered a plot to kill Biggie. By the time of her birth to their son, C.J., in late 1996, the couple's marriage had fallen apart due to the hip-hop rivalry and rumors of Biggie's philandering.

Faith was there at a Soul Train music awards party where Biggie was attending on the night of March 8, 1997 in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately, it would be the last time Faith would hear from her husband. A few hours after she left the club, news had spread that Biggie was gunned down in a hail of gunshots by an unidentified assailant. Evans was devastated when she heard the news of his death and went through a deep depression.

Puffy helped get Faith out of her gloom to record a tribute song to Biggie titled "I'll Be Missing You". The song, which featured Puffy, Evans, and Bad Boy Records group 112, would reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1997 and stayed there for 11 weeks. The song won Puffy and Evans a Grammy for Best Rap Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

The next year, Evans released her long-awaited follow-up, "Keep the Faith". Unlike the solemn approach to her first album, this album spoke of optimism, good times and love. Among its biggest hits include the Chic-sampled tracks "Love Like This" and "All Night Long". Babyface lended her a hit song with "Never Gonna Let You Go". Outside of her own albums, Evans found another big hit with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on their hit song, "Heartbreak Hotel", around the same time.

After re-marrying and having a third child, Evans released her third album, 2001's "Faithfully", which included "You Gets No Love" and "I Love You". For the album's promotion, Evans went through a transformation in her physical appearance. Always a heavy-set woman, Evans shed over 50 pounds and presented a sexier image that was present for the videos to "I Love You" and "Burnin' Up". Fatman Scoop also sampled her vocals on the song "Be Faithful" in 2003, which reached #1 in the UK. Afterwards, Evans kept a low profile until late-2004 when she and husband Todd Russaw were arrested for drug possession and driving under the influence. She and Russaw were sentenced to 3 years' probation and paid a fine (BBC News article).

After a rut of bad news, Evans rebounded to record what many of her fans have proclaimed as her strongest record to date, "The First Lady" (released on April 5, 2005. After finding success with her Twista collaboration, "Hope", Evans released her first song of new material in three years with "Again", a biographical account of her life struggles (its second verse mentioned the 2004 incident). "The First Lady" came out commemorating her tenth anniversary in the industry and her first record on Capitol Records after leaving Bad Boy in 2003. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 157,000 copies sold in its first week, marking her largest first week totals of her career. "The First Lady" has been certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies.

Discography

Albums

• 1995 Faith #22 US (Platinum)
• 1998 Keep the Faith #6 US (Platinum)
• 2001 Faithfully #14 US (Platinum)
• 2005 The First Lady #2 US (Gold), #22 UK
• 2005 A Faithful Christmas (Date release: October 25)

Singles

Filmography

• Turn It Up (2000)
• The Fighting Temptations (2003)

See also

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

• Official websiteit:Faith Evans

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