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| Birth Name(s) : Faith Renée Evans |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer, songwriter, record producer, actress |
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Full Faith Evans Biography
Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is also the widow of the Notorious B.I.G. For over a decade, she has worked with numerous successful artists such as Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, Kelly Price, Usher, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest, DMX, Nas, Twista, and Carl Thomas.
Evans dated musician and producer Kiyamma Griffin, which produced daughter Chyna. She later split from Griffin, but from his help, Evans worked 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 album Usher, as well as 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 on 9 August 1994. Evans was first featured as a guest artist in Biggie's 1994 hit, "One More Chance".
March of 1996, the album was certified Platinum and sold over a million copies, according to RIAA. 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.
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.
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) her Capitol record debut album. 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, The Jools Holland Show(UK) and MTV the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with 160,000 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 833,000 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.A Faithful Christmas album cover
At the end of 2005, Evans released her fifth studio album, A Faithful Christmas, a Christmas collection of new material and covers of seasonal classics. She also made 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.
Faith Evans has also collaborated with Lil Mo, Fantasia and R&B-turned-gospel singer Coko of SWV to do a remake of The Clark Sisters' "Endow Me" as one of the songs on Coko's first gospel album entitled Grateful which was released on October 31, 2006. (She was replaced by Kierra "Kiki" Sheard, who is the daughter of the original lead vocalist, Karen Clark Sheard, for a live performance of this song on BET's Celbration of Gospel '07 due to her newborn baby). Also in 2006, Faith Evans collaborated with Robin Thicke on the song "Got 2 B Down". The song was originally intended to be solely on her album, but Thicke liked the song so much he decided to put it on his second album The Evolution of Robin Thicke. She also provided background vocals on John Legend's song "Heaven". The album, which is being recorded in Atlanta, may be put on hold for a 2008 release due to Faith Evans' newborn baby.
Faith is married to music producer Todd Russaw and they have two sons, Joshua and Ryder. She also has a son, Chris Jr., born from her marriage to The Notorious B.I.G., and a daughter Chyna, from her relationship with musician Kiyamma Griffin. (Faith Evans quote) "I don't look at myself as a celebrity. People recognize me, but it's all about my music, my songs. It's not like I'm a greater being. I take my kids to school, pick them up, go to the grocery store. I'm a mother, and my kids mean more to me than even being an artist." -- Faith Evans, 1998.
Faith Evans | 112 | Total | Carl Thomas | CHARM | Cheri Dennis | Cassie | Danity Kane | Donnie J. Klang | |
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