Faith Evans distinguished herself through an elegantly poised delivery within modern R&B after first establishing herself behind the scenes as a backing vocalist and composer. Her breakthrough arrived in 1995 with the platinum-certified debut Faith on Bad Boy, which yielded major pop and R&B/hip-hop successes via the lush sequence of “One More Chance,” “You Used to Love Me,” and “Soon as I Get Home.” The opening track featured her then-husband, the Notorious B.I.G. Her Bad Boy tenure also produced the 1997 tribute “I’ll Be Missing You,” which reached number one on the pop chart, later earned a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, and honored Biggie following his death. Subsequent solo output slowed after the 2005 Capitol album The First Lady topped the R&B/hip-hop chart and achieved gold status. Over the following decade she continued issuing mature, soul-rich projects at measured intervals, among them the 2010 Prolific release Something About Faith and the 2017 duets collection The King & I, drawn from Biggie’s catalog.
Born in Lakeland, Florida, Evans spent her formative years in Newark, New Jersey, where church singing began at age two. An accomplished high-school student, she took part in theatrical productions and secured a scholarship to Fordham University, yet left after one year to channel her jazz and classical background into contemporary R&B. Between 1992 and 1994 she supplied songwriting and backing vocals for Al B. Sure!, Hi-Five, Christopher Williams, Usher, and Mary J. Blige. While contributing six co-writes and vocal support to the Usher project, she received a Bad Boy recording contract from Sean “Puffy” Combs. Though she had not initially sought a performing career, she accepted the offer and, by 1995, stood behind several of the label’s landmark records. The first was the “Stay with Me” remix of “One More Chance,” a number-two pop and number-one R&B/hip-hop single fronted by the Notorious B.I.G., whom she had married the year before. Follow-up singles “You Used to Love Me” and “Soon as I Get Home” both reached the pop Top 25 and R&B/hip-hop Top Five, driving Faith to platinum sales.
While her own profile rose through 1995 and 1996, Evans appeared on high-profile releases by Teddy Thompson, Pebbles, Total, Monifah, Color Me Badd, Horace Brown, A Tribe Called Quest, Case, 112, and Soul for Real. She further lent her voice to the soundtracks of Waiting to Exhale, High School High, and The Preacher’s Wife. In 1997, still mourning Biggie’s murder, she co-wrote and performed on the commemorative single “I’ll Be Missing You,” one of the year’s dominant hits that topped both the pop and R&B/hip-hop charts before claiming the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Her second album, Keep the Faith, arrived in 1998 and generated R&B successes the following year with “Love Like This,” “All Night Long,” and the Babyface-produced number-one R&B/hip-hop track “Never Gonna Let You Go.” During this period she collaborated with Aaron Hall, Tevin Campbell, and DMX, and guested on Whitney Houston’s “Heartbreak Hotel” and Eric Benét’s version of Toto and Cheryl Lynn’s “Georgy Porgy,” both 1999 hits. She later married record executive Todd Russaw, who assumed an active managerial role in her affairs.
Evans issued her third Bad Boy project, Faithfully, in 2001; the comparatively upbeat set drew some of her strongest critical notices and spawned the singles “You Gets No Love” and “I Love You.” Her duet with Carl Thomas on “Can’t Believe” earned a Grammy nomination. After departing Bad Boy, she moved to Capitol for The First Lady, which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 in 2005. Following a five-year recording hiatus during which she authored the African American Literary Award-winning memoir Keep the Faith, she returned with Something About Faith on her Prolific imprint through eOne distribution. The album led Billboard’s Independent Albums chart, reached the R&B/hip-hop Top Five, and debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200; its single “Gone Already” received a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Evans and Russaw divorced in 2011.
After appearing on El DeBarge’s “Lay with You” and Rahsaan Patterson’s “Crazy (Baby)” in 2012, she joined Nicci Gilbert, Monifah, Syleena Johnson, and Keke Wyatt on the TV One series R&B Divas. A companion compilation benefiting the Whitney E. Houston Academy appeared on Prolific that October. In September 2014 she released “I Deserve It” featuring Missy Elliott as the lead single from the eclectic Incomparable, which followed two months later. The King & I, a collection of duets with the Notorious B.I.G., arrived on Rhino in May 2017 and blended familiar and previously unheard vocals from her late partner alongside contributions from Snoop Dogg and Jadakiss. In July 2018 Evans married Stevie J, the songwriter and producer whose association with her dated back to the Bad Boy years; their duet “A Minute” appeared the same month.
