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Faith Evans

Years active 1995-present
Genre(s) R&B
Label(s) Capitol (2005- )
Bad Boy (1995-2003)

Faith Renee Evans (born June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida) is a Grammy Award-winning R&B singer/songwriter. She has sold nearly 8 million albums and singles worldwide.

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Early life
Evans was born in Florida to an Italian-American father and an African-American mother. Her father was a musician who left when she was a 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 a one year of college to pursue a singing career.

Career

Early career
At 19, she had a child named Chyna with musician and producer Kiyamma Griffin, who she later split with. Griffin helped Evans get work as a session singer with Al B. Sure, through whom she met 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 Mary J. Blige's My Life. The breadwinner of the label was a Brooklyn rapper The Notorious B.I.G. He and Evans met at a Bad Boy phootshoot and married only ten days after meeting in August 1994. She was first featured as a guest artist in Biggie's 1995 hit, "One More Chance (remix)."

Faith

Faith album coverShe soon released her debut album in the Fall 1995. The self-titled CD, Faith, 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 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 Jr. 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 hear from 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

Faithfully album coverAfter 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", the P. Diddy helmed "All Night Long", and Babyface lent her a #1 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."

Faithfully
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. 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 three years' probation and paid a fine.[1]

The First Lady

The First Lady album coverAfter a rut of bad news, Evans rebounded with 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 10 of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and appearances on David Letterman, BET and MTV The First Lady entered the Billboard 200 at No.2 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. "Mesmerized" failed to crack top 50 R&B despite numerous remixes; however a dance remix by the Freemasons went on to hit #1 on the Billboard Dance 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 11th solo R&B hit.

  Albums
Year Album U.S. R&B UK RIAA cert.
1995 Faith 22 2 — Platinum
1998 Keep the Faith 6 3 — Platinum
2001 Faithfully 14 2 — Gold
2005 The First Lady 2 1 22 Gold
2005 A Faithful Christmas 199 70 — —
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Singles
Songs listed here are chart singles on which Faith Evans was name checked, either as the main or featured performer. [2]

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B/ Hip-Hop U.S. Dance UK singles Album
1995 "You Used To Love Me" 24 4 - 42 Faith
1995 "Soon As I Get Home" 21 3 - - Faith
1996 "Ain't Nobody" 67 14 - - Faith
1996 "Kissing You" 67 - - - Waiting To Exhale Soundtrack
1996 "Come Over" - 56 - - Faith
1996 "I Just Can't" - - - - High School High Soundtrack
1997 "I'll Be Missing You"
(Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112) 1 1 - 1 No Way Out
1998 "Love Like This" 7 2 - 24 Keep the Faith
1998 "Heartbreak Hotel"
(Whitney Houston featuring Faith Evans and Kelly Price) 2 1 1 25 My Love Is Your Love
1998 "All Night Long"
(featuring Puff Daddy) 9 3 4 23 Keep the Faith
1999 "Georgy Porgy"
(Eric Benet featuring Faith Evans) 55 15 - 28 A Day In the Life
1999 "Never Gonna Let You Go" 17 1 - - Keep the Faith
1999 "Lately I" - 78 - - Keep the Faith
2000 "Love Is Blind"
(Eve featuring Faith Evans) 34 11 - - Let There Be Eve... Ruff Ryder's First Lady
2001 "The Good Life (Remix)"
(featuring Murder, Inc.) - - - - The Fast and the Furious Soundtrack
2001 "Can't Believe"
(featuring Carl Thomas) 56 14 - - Faithfully
2001 "You Gets No Love" 38 8 - - Faithfully
2002 "I Love You" 14 2 - - Faithfully
2002 "Burnin' Up"
(featuring Missy Elliott) 60 19 - - Faithfully
2002 "Alone In This World" - 73 - - Faithfully
2002 "Brown Sugar"
(Mos Def featuring Faith Evans) - 95 - - Brown Sugar Soundtrack
2004 "Hope"
(Twista featuring Faith Evans) 31 24 - 25 The First Lady
Coach Carter [Soundtrack]
2005 "Again" 47 7 - 12 The First Lady
2005 "Mesmerized" - 56 1 48 The First Lady
2005 "Tru Love" - 27 - - The First Lady
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Grammy Award history
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"