Faith Evans
Template:Infobox musical artist 2
Faith Renée Evans (born June 10 1973) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter & producer. She is also the widow of Notorious B.I.G. Within the past 10 years of Faith's musical career, she has worked with numerous successful artists such as Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, Kelly Price, Usher, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Nas, Carl Thomas & many more.
Biography
Early life
Evans was born in Lakeland, Florida to an Italian-American father and an African-American mother. Her father was a musician who left when she was very young. She was raised in Newark, New Jersey by her aunt, Johnnie Mae, and her mother, Helene, who had Evans when she was 18. Evans began singing at church at age two and later sang in school musical productions. She was an honor student in high school and won a full scholarship to Fordham University. However, she dropped out after one year of college to pursue a singing career.
Early career
At 19, she had a child named Chyna with musician and producer Kiyamma Griffin, from whom she later split. Griffin helped Evans get work as a session singer with Al B. Sure, who she met through producer Sean "Puffy" Combs. Combs liked Evans's sound and signed her to his fledgling label Bad Boy Records. She co-wrote and sang backup on Usher's debut self-titled CD as well Mary J. Blige's My Life, two projects in which Combs served as an executive producer. The breadwinner of the label was a Brooklyn rapper The Notorious B.I.G.. He and Evans met at a Bad Boy photoshoot and married only ten days after meeting in August 1994. She was first featured as a guest artist in Biggie's 1994 hit, "One More Chance (remix)."
Debut album: Faith Evans
Evans released her debut album on August 29, 1995. The self-titled CD, Faith , became a hit based on the songs "Soon as I Get Home" and her debut single "You Used to Love Me." Her 3rd & 4th singles, "Ain't Nobody" and "Come Over," respectively, failed to make any real impact on Urban and Pop radio, with the latter track failing to chart at all. The album (and Faith's stage name) were originally just simply "Faith," but shortly after the album's release, Sherri Carter of BET's Video Soul stated that Faith appended her last name to both her stage name AND the album title in an attempt to distinguish herself as more than The Notorious B.I.G.'s wife. The original release also contains a cover of the Rose Royce hit "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" featuring Mary J. Blige. However, the two ladies had a falling out and Faith had Mary's vocals removed and re-recorded them herself. Today, it is hard to find a copy of the original release that contains Mary's vocals.
The album was certified Platinum and sold just under a million copies, with 903,000 copies sold according to Nielsen Soundscan. By that time the rap war between Biggie and rapper Tupac Shakur had intensified, which turned personal for both after Shakur alleged that he had slept with Evans. Evans, who was pregnant with Biggie's child, was outraged because she said she had only met Shakur for a recording.
The rivalry turned ugly after Shakur's tragic death in September 1996 in Las Vegas. Some had speculated Biggie may have taken part in his murder, as well as the 1994 shooting of Shakur in New York. By the time of the birth of their son, Christopher Jordan or C.J., in late 1996, the couple's marriage had fallen apart due to the hip-hop rivalry and rumors of Biggie's philandering, most notably with female rappers Lil' Kim and Charli Baltimore.
Evans was present at a Soul Train music awards party Biggie attended on the night of March 8th in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately, it would be the last time Evans would see her husband. A few hours after she left the club, in the early hours of March 9 1997, 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.
Puff Daddy helped get Evans out of her gloom to record a tribute song titled "I'll Be Missing You". The song, which featured Puffy, Evans, and Bad Boy Records group 112, reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1997 and stayed there for eleven weeks. The song won Puffy and Evans a Grammy Award for Best Rap Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Keep the Faith and Faithfully
After re-marrying and having a third child, Joshua, Evans released her long-awaited follow-up, Keep the Faith in 1998. 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 track "Love Like This" (#7 US), the P. Diddy helmed "All Night Long" (#9 US), and Babyface lent her a number-one R&B hit song with "Never Gonna Let You Go". Outside of her own albums, Evans found another hit that year with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on the song "Heartbreak Hotel". That album would also be certified Platinum and sell just under a million. As of December 2005, Keep The Faith has sold over 924,000 copies.
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 fifty 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 number one in the UK. Although the album wasn't as big of a success as her first two, it would end up being certified gold, with about 837,000 units sold.
Afterwards, Evans and her husband Todd Russaw made for predominatly negative headlines when they were arrested in early 2004 due to drug possession and driving under the influence and sentenced to three years' probation and a fine.[1]
The First Lady
After a rut of bad news, Evans rebounded with a record that 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 drug 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. With the help of "Again" reaching the top ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and appearances on David Letterman, BET and MTV the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with 157,000 copies sold in its first week, marking the largest first-week total of her career. The First Lady was certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies within weeks of release. The second single, "Mesmerized", saw Faith going with a 70's retro-funk soul vibe. The track failed to crack top fifty R&B despite numerous remixes; however a dance remix by the Freemasons went on to hit number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
At the end of the year she released her fifth studio album, A Faithful Christmas, a Christmas collection of new material and covers of seasonal classics, that saw her making lots of appearances on holiday TV programming. In early 2006, Faith Evans' third single, "Tru Love" (produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox), gradually gained ground on urban/urban AC radio, becoming her eleventh solo R&B hit.
New Album
Currently, Evans is said to be working on her sixth studio album, it's rumoured to be heavily gospel influenced. The album is said to involve producers like Chucky Thompson and Jazze Pha and a guest appearance by rapper T.I.. In the meantime, saxophonist Boney James said in July 2006 that Evans will be a featured artist on his next studio release, Shine, the song that Faith's on is called "Gonna Get It". Faith Evans has also collaboratd with Lil Mo, Fantasia and R&B-turned-gospel singer Coko of SWV to do a remake of The Clark Sisters' "Endow Me," scheduled as the first single from Coko's first gospel album entitled Grateful set to be released on October 31, 2006. Also in 2006, Faith Evans collaborated with Robin Thicke on the song "Got 2 B Down" for his sophomore album The Evolution of Robin Thicke. [2]
Personal life
Marriages
- Notorious B.I.G. (1994 until his death in 1997)
- Todd Russaw (1998-current)
Children
- Chyna Evans — born 1993 (daughter with Kiyamma Griffin)
- Christopher Jordan Wallace — born 1996 (son with Notorious B.I.G.)
- Joshua Russaw — born 1998 (son with Todd Russaw)
Discography
For more information about her singles, albums certifications, and music video, see Faith Evans discography.
Albums
| Year | Album | U.S. | UK | RIAA cert. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Faith | 22 | - | Platinum |
| 1998 | Keep the Faith | 6 | - | Platinum |
| 2001 | Faithfully | 14 | - | Platinum |
| 2005 | The First Lady | 2 | 22 | Gold |
| 2005 | A Faithful Christmas | - | - | N/A |
Grammy Award history
Career stats
- Career wins: 1
- Career nominations: 5
| Year | Category | Genre | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "I'll Be Missing You" | Won |
| 1998 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | "Love Like This" | Nominated |
| 1999 | Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group | R&B | "Heartbreak Hotel" | Nominated |
| 2000 | Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group | R&B | "Can't Believe" | Nominated |
| 2001 | Best Contemporary R&B Album | R&B | "Faithfully" | Nominated |
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 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart