* En anglais uniquement
A distinctively graceful voice in contemporary R&B,
Faith Evans worked behind the scenes as a background vocalist and songwriter prior to breaking through as an artist in 1995. During that year, she released
Faith, her first of three platinum or gold albums for the Bad Boy label, and hit the upper reaches of the pop and R&B/hip-hop charts with the plush trifecta of "One More Chance," "You Used to Love Me," and "Soon as I Get Home," the first of which was a collaboration with husband
the Notorious B.I.G. Evans' run with Bad Boy also included the
Biggie tribute "I'll Be Missing You," a number one pop hit in 1997 and subsequent Grammy winner in the category of Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Recordings from
Evans became less frequent after she scored a fourth hit with the 2005 Capitol release
The First Lady, which topped the R&B/hip-hop chart and was another gold-seller. Every few years through the next decade, she added to her discography with another set of rich, adult-oriented R&B, including
Something About Faith, released in 2010 on her own Prolific label, and the 2017 album
The King & I, consisting of duets with
Biggie.
Born in Lakeland, Florida,
Faith Evans grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where she began singing in church at the age of two. A high-school honor student, she performed in her school's musical productions and earned a scholarship to Fordham University. After one year, she left the Bronx campus to put her jazz and classical training to use in the field of contemporary R&B. From 1992 through 1994, she wrote songs and/or sang backup for
Al B. Sure!,
Hi-Five,
Christopher Williams,
Usher, and
Mary J. Blige. While working on
Usher, for which she co-wrote six tracks and sang backup,
Evans was offered a Bad Boy contract by
Sean "Puffy" Combs. She hadn't aspired to become an artist, but struck a deal, and in 1995 was behind some of Bad Boy's biggest hits. First was the "Stay with Me" remix of "One More Chance," a number two pop, number one R&B/hip-hop hit headlined by
the Notorious B.I.G., who
Evans married the previous year. Next came the Top 25 pop, Top Five R&B/hip-hop singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home," which propelled
Faith,
Evans' debut album, to platinum status.
As
Evans' solo career was in ascent across 1995 and 1996, her work appeared on numerous high-profile projects, including material from
Teddy Thompson,
Pebbles,
Total,
Monifah,
Color Me Badd,
Horace Brown,
A Tribe Called Quest,
Case,
112, and
Soul for Real. She also contributed to the soundtracks for
Waiting to Exhale,
High School High, and
The Preacher's Wife. In 1997, following the murder of
Biggie, the grief-stricken
Evans co-wrote and was featured on the tribute single "I'll Be Missing You," which became one of that year's biggest hits, topping the pop and R&B/hip-hop charts and eventually winning a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Evans' sophomore effort,
Keep the Faith, followed in 1998 and spun off several R&B hits over the next year, including "Love Like This," "All Night Long," and the
Babyface-produced R&B/hip-hop number one "Never Gonna Let You Go." In the meantime, she worked with
Aaron Hall,
Tevin Campbell, and
DMX, among others, and also made guest appearances on two 1999 hits,
Whitney Houston's "Heartbreak Hotel" and
Eric Benét's cover of
Toto and
Cheryl Lynn's "Georgy Porgy." She eventually married record executive
Todd Russaw, who took an active role in helping manage her career.
In 2001,
Evans released her third album,
Faithfully, a more uptempo recording that received some of her strongest reviews. It also produced hit singles in "You Gets No Love" and "I Love You," and her duet with
Carl Thomas on "Can't Believe" was nominated for a Grammy. It would be her last Bad Boy album, ending a fruitful association, yet her next move with Capitol,
The First Lady, missed the top spot of the Billboard 200 by one position in 2005. After a five-year hiatus from recording, during which she penned the African American Literary Award-winning memoir Keep the Faith,
Evans released
Something About Faith on her own Prolific label, with distribution from eOne. It topped Billboard's Independent Albums chart, went Top Five R&B/hip-hop, and debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200. Its first single, "Gone Already," was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
Evans and
Russaw divorced in 2011.
After
Evans appeared on
El DeBarge's "Lay with You" and
Rahsaan Patterson's "Crazy (Baby)" in 2012, she starred on the TV One reality series R&B Divas beside
Nicci Gilbert,
Monifah,
Syleena Johnson, and
Keke Wyatt. A tie-in compilation for the show was released on Prolific that October, with proceeds directed to the Whitney E. Houston Academy. In September 2014, "I Deserve It," featuring
Missy Elliott, was released as the first single from the stylistically broad
Incomparable, which followed two months later.
The King & I, a set of duets with
the Notorious B.I.G., followed on Rhino in May 2017. It included a mix of familiar and previously unreleased vocals from
Evans' late partner, as well as appearances from
Snoop Dogg and
Jadakiss. In July 2018,
Evans married
Stevie J, a songwriter and producer who had worked on and off with her dating back to the Bad Boy era. A duet from the newlyweds, "A Minute," was out that month. ~ Andy Kellman