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Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born in Florida and raised in New Jersey, Evans relocated to Los Angeles during 1993 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al B. Sure and Christopher Williams, she became the first female artist to be contracted with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainmentrecording company during 1994, for which she released three platinum-certified studio albums between the years 1995 and 2001.[1] During 2003, she ended her relationship with the company to contract withCapitol Records.[2] Other than her recording career, Evans is known as the widow of New York rapper Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, whom she married on August 4, 1994, a few weeks after meeting at a Bad Boy photoshoot.[3] The turbulent marriage resulted in Evans' involvement in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop feud, dominating the rap music news at the time, and ended with Wallace's murder in a yet-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California during March 1997.[4] A 1997 tribute single featuring Puff Daddy and the band 112, named "I'll Be Missing You", became Evans' best-selling song to date and won her a Grammy Award during 1998.[2] Also an avocational actress and writer, Evans made her screen debut in the 2000 musical drama Turn It Up by Robert Adetuyi. Her autobiography Keep the Faith: A Memoir was released by Grand Central Publishing during 2008 and won a 2009 African American Literary Award for the Best Biography/Memoir category.
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Biography[edit]Early life and career beginningsEvans was born in Lakeland, Florida to an African-American mother, Helene Evans, a professional singer.[2]Her father, Richard Swain, was a musician who left before Evans was born (Evans has said "I've heard people mumble something about him being Italian, but I don't know for sure").[5] A half year later, 19-year-old Helene returned to Newark, New Jersey and left Faith with her cousin Johnnie Mae and husband Orvelt Kennedy, thefoster parents of more than a hundred children they raised in the time that Faith lived with them.[2][4] It was not until a couple of years later that Helene's career floundered and she tried to take Evans back home. Faith, however, was afraid to leave what she'd "been used to", and instead, Helene relocated next door.[2] Raised in a Christian home, Evans began singing at church at age two. At age four, she caught the attention of the congregation of the Emmanuel Baptist Church (in Newark) when she sang The 5th Dimension's song "Let the Sunshine In".[6] While attending University High School in Newark, she sang with several jazz bands and, encouraged by Helene, entered outside pageants, festivals and contests, where her voice would be noticed and praised. After graduating from high school during 1991, Evans attended Fordham University in New York City to study marketing but left a year later to have daughter Chyna with music producer Kiyamma Griffin.[1] A couple of months later[when?], she relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked as a backup vocalist for singer Al B. Sure, when she was noticed by musician Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. Impressed with her persona, Combs contracted her as the company's first female artist to his Bad Boy Entertainment during 1994.[1] [edit]1994-01: Faith, Keep The Faith, Biggie, motherhood and marriageNewly contracted to Bad Boy Records, Evans was consulted by executive producer Combs to contribute backing vocals and writing skills to Mary J. Blige's My Life (1994) and Usher's self-titled debut album (1994) prior to starting work on her debut record album Faith.[7] Released on August 29, 1995 in North America, the album was a collaboration with Bad Boy's main producers "The Hitmen", including Chucky Thompson and Combs, but it resulted in recordings with Poke & Tone and Herb Middleton. Faith became a success based on the singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home". The album was certified Platinum with 1,500,000 copies sold, according to RIAA.[8] On August 4, 1994, Evans married rapper and label mate The Notorious B.I.G., after having met him at a Bad Boy photoshoot.[3] The couple had one child together, Christopher Wallace, Jr. (born October 29, 1996), but the marriage was turbulent as Wallace reportedly had several affairs during their union, including relationships with fellow rappers Lil' Kim and Charli Baltimore.[9] Additionally, it led to Evans' involvement in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop feud, dominating the rap music news at the time, which ended with Wallace's murder in a yet-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California in March 1997,[4] and made Evans "Rap's most famous widow".[3] During early 1997, after her separation from Wallace, but before his death, Evans was introduced to record company executive Todd Russaw. Faith began dating Russaw during her and Wallace's separation and eventually, after Wallace died, Evans became pregnant by Russaw. The couple had their first son Joshua on June 8, 1998.[3] During the summer of 1998, Evans and Russaw were married, and on March 22, 2007, they had their second son Ryder Evan Russaw.[3] After Biggie's murder during March 1997, Combs helped Evans produce her tribute song named "I'll Be Missing You", based on the melody of The Police's 1983 single "Every Breath You Take". The song, which featured Combs, Evans, and all-male group 112, became a worldwide number-one success and debuted at #1 on theU.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart during 1997, scoring that for eleven weeks. It eventually won Puffy and Evans the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.[2] The next year, she received another two Grammy nominations for "Heartbreak Hotel", a collaboration with singersWhitney Houston and Kelly Price, that scored number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[10] Prior to Evans meeting and having a relationship withThe Notorious B.I.G., she was involved in a relationship with Kiyamma Griffin. She and Griffin had a daughter named Chyna (born April 1, 1993). Two years in the making, Evans' second solo effort, Keep the Faith, was released during October 1998. Almost entirely written and produced by her, Evans considered the album difficult to complete as she had initially felt discouraged about the progress at first.[3] Upon its release, however, the album garnered generally positive reviews by music critics, with Allmusic noting it "without a doubt a highlight of 1990s soul-pop music".[11] Also enjoying commercial success, it eventually went platinum and produced the top ten singles "Love Like This" and "All Night Long" (released March 30, 1999) prompting Evans to start an 18-city theater tour with Dru Hill and Total the following year
DiscographyMain article: Faith Evans discography
1995: FaithStudio albums
Other albums
[edit]Tours
[edit]Filmography
[edit]Awards and nominations
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