Faith Evans

Faith Evans is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress and author from Lakeland, United States. Born in 1973, she moves to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in music. Before her solo breakthrough, she works as a backing vocalist for Al B. Sure.

Recording career

Evans becomes the first female artist signed to Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records in 1994. On the label she releases three platinum-certified studio albums between 1995 and 2001. Her 2003 departure leads to a move to Capitol Records.

Her early success includes Keep the Faith, released after she marries Todd Russaw and has a third child, Joshua. The album includes “Love Like This”, a Chic-sampled single that reaches number 7 in the US, “All Night Long”, produced by P. Diddy and reaching number 9, and “Never Gonna Let You Go”, a number-one R&B hit written by Babyface. She also appears on Whitney Houston and Kelly Price’s “Heartbreak Hotel”.

Evans’ 2001 album Faithfully includes “You Gets No Love” and “I Love You”, both R&B hits. The album is certified platinum and later followed by “Be Faithful”, a Fatman Scoop track that samples her vocals and reaches number one in the UK.

Capitol Records era and later releases

Her Capitol debut, The First Lady, is issued in 2005 and marks ten years in the industry. “Again” becomes a top ten R&B/Hip-Hop single, and the album enters the Billboard 200 at number two. It is certified gold. The follow-up single “Mesmerized” leans toward 1970s retro-funk soul, while a Freemasons remix reaches number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Later in 2005 she releases A Faithful Christmas, a Christmas album of seasonal originals and covers. In 2006, “Tru Love”, produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox, becomes her twelfth solo R&B hit and reaches the top 30.

Her sixth album, Something About Faith, appears in 2010, with “Already Gone” and “Right Here” as singles. She joins the TV One reality series R&B Divas Atlanta in 2012 and co-executive produces the programme. The related album R&B Divas Atlanta is led by Evans and supports the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative & Performing Arts in East Orange, New Jersey.

In 2014, Evans releases Incomparable, which includes “I Deserve It”, featuring Missy Elliott and Sharaya J. She also announces work on a posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album titled The King & I.

Collaborations and personal history

Evans is widely known for her marriage to Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, whom she meets at a photoshoot and marries in 1994. His murder in 1997 places her at the centre of the East Coast-West Coast hip hop feud. That year, she appears on “I’ll Be Missing You” with Puff Daddy and 112, a tribute single that becomes her biggest-selling hit and wins a Grammy Award in 1998.

She also records “Say A Prayer” with Donald Lawrence and appears with Jessi Colter and Cece White on Shooter Jennings’ “Southern Comfort”. Her work is associated with contemporary R&B and soul, and she is also linked with We Are Family Collective and Faith Evans Publishing, alongside Bad Boy Records.