Faith Evans Biography

The singer-songwriter Faith Evans was born in 1973 in Florida, to a single mother. Long before she established her own career as a singer and married Notorious B.I.G, young Faith grew up in foster care in New Jersey. Evans’s foster parents were very religious, and so Faith’s earliest exposure to music was singing in the local church when she was still a toddler. Music continued to dominate Faith’s life through high school, where she performed in dozens of festivals and contests, until in 1993, when she relocated to Los Angeles and began pursuing a career in music more seriously.  

Faith’s earliest gigs were as backup singer, but the gigs resulted in significant exposure. Eventually, it was Puff Daddy Combs who discovered her talents, and he quickly signed her to his own Bad Boy Records. Evans continued to provide backup vocals for artists such as Usher and Mary J. Blige, until her own debut album was released. Faith arrived in 1995 and on the strength of the songs “Soon as I Get Home” and “You Used to Love Me, the album rose to the top of the charts and reached multi-platinum status.  

Around the same time, though, Faith Evans married rapper Notorious B.I.G. The relationship was tumultuous, and ended in the tragic shooting of Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles in 1997. It was Evans who, with the help of Puff Daddy, penned the unique version of “I’ll Be Missing You,” performed by Evans, the group 112, and Puff Daddy; the song went on to be a smash hit and earned both Evans and Combs a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1998.

In the years following, Faith Evans released the albums Keep the Faith (1998), Faithfully (2001), The First Lady (2005), and Something About Faith (2010), featuring the songs: “Love Like This,” “All Night Long,” “Never Gonna Let You Go,” “Can’t Believe,” “You Gets No Love,” “I Love You,” “Again,” and “Tears of Joy.” In addition to her Grammy for “I’ll Be Missing You,” Faith Evans has been nominated for Grammys six other times, and has won two Lady of Soul Awards, for Best Female R&B/Soul Album (for Faith in 1996) and Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist (also in 1996.)

Recently, Faith Evans joined the cast of the reality show R&B Divas Atlanta and published an award-winning biography, Keep the Faith: A Memoir, in 2008. Evans recently returned to the studio to finish work on her next studio album, set for release in 2014.