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Faith Evans Information
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'Faith Renee Evans' (born June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida and raised in Newark, New Jersey) is an R&B singer/songwriter who rose to fame even while under her late husband's rather large shadow, hip-hop icon The Notorious B.I.G.. Evans' father is Italian American; her mother is African-American.
Biography
Known for her smooth, clear, and powerful voice. Evans performs leaps and runs throughtout her vast range with ease. Influenced by the legendary clark sisters.After several years perfoming jazz standards at clubs and dropping out of college after her freshman year, the daughter of a white rocker and R&B backup singer decided to begin a music career, first with a young musician named Kiyamma Griffin, and later with rising hip-hop/R&B record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was forming his own label, Bad Boy Records at the time.
The breadwinner of that label was a young rapper from Brooklyn, New York named Christopher Wallace. Evans took a liking to the young rapper because of his charm and a love affair resumed in what later became a quickie marriage ten days after meeting each other. Before the marriage, though, Evans was signed to Bad Boy and became the first female artist of the label -- and the most successful artist second to her new husband.
Everyone first got a look at Evans when she was featured on the remix to Biggie's 1995 hit, "One More Chance". Beforehand, Evans had become to branch out as a talented songwriter penning hits for Mary J. Blige and Intro. She finally released her long-awaited debut in the fall of 1995. The self-titled "Faith" CD 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 a rap war had become intensified between Biggie and prolific rapper Tupac Shakur, 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, C.J., in late 1996, the couple's marriage had fallen apart due to the hip-hop rivalry and rumors of Biggie's philandering.
Evans was present at a Soul Train music awards party Biggie attended on the night of March 8 1997 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, 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.
The next year, Evans released her long-awaited follow-up, Keep the Faith. 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 tracks "Love Like This" and "All Night Long". Babyface lent her a hit song with "Never Gonna Let You Go". Outside of her own albums, Evans found another big hit with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on the song "Heartbreak Hotel", around the same time.
After re-marrying and having a third child, 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 ().
After 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. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 157,000 copies sold in its first week, marking her largest first-week total of her career. The First Lady has been certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies. 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.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | US | UK | RIAA cert. |
|---|
| 1995 | Faith | 22 | - | Platinum | | 1998 | Keep the Faith | 6 | - | Platinum | | 2001 | Faithfully | 14 | - | Gold | | 2005 | The First Lady | 2 | 22 | Gold | | 2005 | A Faithful Christmas | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
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 | | 2005 | "Tru Love" | - | 58 | - | - | The First Lady | |
Filmography
* Turn It Up (2000)
* The Fighting Temptations (2003)
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