Faith Evans

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

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 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.

Music 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 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 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)."

Faith

Evans 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 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 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

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", the P. Diddy helmed "All Night Long", 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 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 platinum as well with about 837,000 units sold.

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.^*

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. The Thid Single "Jealous" Didn't Even Hit Radio Stations and By The Time Radio's Got Her 4th Single "Goin Out" Produced By Pharrell Faith Was Finished With That Promotion and Moved On To The Fifth Single.

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' Fifth 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 working on her fifth R&B studio album. The CD is said to involve producers like Chucky Thompson and Jazze Pha and a guest appearance by rapper T.I.. Faith and Lil Mo also plan to collaborate with 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 to be released in August 2006. ^*

Notable Relatives

Chyna Evans (daughter)
Notorious B.I.G. (ex-husband)

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	US	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	199	70	N/A

Singles

Year	Song	US Hot 100	US R&B/ Hip-Hop	US 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	-	-	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
2005	"Again"	47	7	-	12	The First Lady
2005	"Mesmerized"	-	56	1	48	The First Lady
2006	"Tru Love"	-	27	-	-	The First Lady

Guest vocals

1992: "Nothing With Out You" (with Alvin Darlings; Why Not Pray)
1994: "One More Chance/Stay With Me" (with Notorious B.I.G.; Ready to Die)
1994: "Wonda Why They Call U" (with Tupac; unreleased)
1996: "How Can We Stop" (with Horace Brown; Horace Brown)
1996: "Stressed Out (with A Tribe Called Quest & Consequence; from Beats, Rhymes and Life)
1996: "I Can't Believe" (with 112; 112)
1997: "Nothing Without You" (with Karen Clark Sheard; from Finally Karen)
1997: "All The Times" (with LSG and Missy Elliott and Coko; from Levert.Sweat.Gil.)
1998: "For Awhile" (with 112; Room 112)
1998: "How's It Going Down?" (with DMX; from It's Dark And Hell Is Hot)
1999: "Heartbreak Hotel" (with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price; My Love Is Your Love)
1999: "Georgy Porgy" (with Eric Benet; from A Day in the Life)
1999: "Love Is Blind" (with Eve; from Ruff Ryder's First Lady)
2000: "Easier" (with Kandi Burruss; from Hey Kandi ...)
2000: "2 B Real 2000 (Keep It Real)" (with Lost Boyz)
2001: "I Thought I Told You" (with Anastacia; from Freak of Nature)
2001: "Miss You" (with DMX; from The Great Depression (album))
2001: "Everyday" (with G-Dep; from Child of the Ghetto)
2001: "Overjoyed" (with Jon B.; from Pleasures U Like)
2002: "A Dream" (with Jay-Z & Notorious B.I.G.; from The Gift & the Curse)
2002: "Brown Sugar (Extra Sweet)" (with Mos Def; from Brown Sugar Soundtrack)
2002: "Ma, I Don't Love Her" (with The Clipse; from Lord Willin')
2002: "Relax Your Mind" (with Boyz II Men; from Full Circle)
2002: "Someday" (with Scarface; from The Fix)
2003: "Hurting Woman" (with Shirley Caesar; from Shirley Caesar and Friends)
2003: "Sister" (with Kelly Price; from Priceless)
2003: "Don't Cross The Line" (with Freeway; from Philadelphia Freeway)
2004: "We Know" (with Talib Kweli; from The Beautiful Struggle)
2005: "Don't Need Your Love" (with The Game; from The Documentary)
2005: "Hope" (with Twista; from Coach Carter the soundtrack)
2006: "Living The Life" (with Notorious B.I.G and Ludacris and Snoop Dogg; from Duets: The Final Chapter)
2006: "1970 Somethin'" (with Notorious B.I.G and The Game; from Duets: The Final Chapter)
2006: "Got 2 Be Down" (with Robin Thicke; from The Evolution of Robin Thicke)
2006: "Endow Me" (with Coko of SWV and Lil Mo; from Coko's future gospel album)

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)

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Faith Evans