Faith Evans Biography

Faith Renée Evans was born to Richard Swain, an Italian musician, and Helene Evans, an African-American singer. He was raised by her aunt and uncle Johnnie Mae and Orvelt Kennedy.

She began singing when she was two years old and by the time she turned four, she sang at the congregation of the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Newark. At University High School in Newark, she sang with jazz bands.

In 1991, she graduated from high school and began to study marketing at Fordham University in New York City, but eventually dropped out.

In 1995, she came out with her debut album, ‘Faith’, which was released by the Bad Boy Records label. The album featured the hit singles, ‘You Used to Love Me’ and ‘Soon As I Get Home’.

In 1997, she worked with Puff Daddy on the Grammy Award-winning single, ‘I'll Be Missing You’. The song went on to become one of the bestselling songs of all time.

Released in 1998, her second album, ‘Keep the Faith’, peaked on the music charts. Some of the tracks featured in the album include, ‘Faith’, ‘Love Like This’, and ‘All Night Long’.

In 2000, she starred in the hip-hop drama film, ‘Turn It Up’, which was directed by Robert Adetuyi. The film received only moderate success.

In 2001, her third album, ‘Faithfully’ was released by the Bad Boy Records label. The album featured the hit track, ‘I Love You’, which peaked at the music charts.

In 2005, she came out with her fourth studio album, ‘The First Lady’, which was released by Capitol Records. The album was well-received by most of the music critics and peaked at the music charts.

On October 25, 2005, her holiday album, ‘A Faithful Christmas’ was released by the Capitol Records label. The album featured the holiday songs, ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Santa Baby’.

In 2007, she was featured in the single, ‘Got 2 Be Down’, which was from Robin Thicke's second album, ‘The Evolution of Robin Thicke’. However, the song did not do that well on the music charts.

In 2010, she came out with the album, ‘Something About Faith’, which was her fifth studio album and was released by the Prolific Music Group label. It featured the hit single, ‘Gone Already’.

Released in 2012, her compilation album titled, ‘R&B Divas’, featured the works of other R&B singers. The album contained a total of twelve tracks, out of which she performed for seven.

In 2014, she put out her seventh studio album ‘Incomparable.’ While most critics agreed that it was one of the best works of Evans, some were of the opinion that the album left a lot to be desired. The album peaked at number 27 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and reached number 17 on the US Independent Albums chart.

The year 2017 saw the release of the compilation album ‘The King & I.’ The album was a collaboration between Evans and her late husband and rapper The Notorious B.I.G.

Between 2015 and 2019, she starred in many episodes of the reality television show, ‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.’ She also appeared in television shows like ‘Stevie J & Joseline: Go Hollywood,’ ‘RuPaul's Drag Race,’ ‘Luke Cage,’ and ‘The Masked Singer.’

‘Keep the Faith’, her second album received immensely positive reviews and was one of her biggest successful albums. The album peaked at the number 6 position on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the 3rd position on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Her album, ‘The First Lady’ was one of her highest-selling ones and peaked at the number two position on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the number one position on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

In 1996, she was the winner of the Lady of Soul Awards for the category of ‘Best Female R&B/Soul Album’ for the album, ‘Faith’.

In 1997, she was the recipient of the MTV Video Music Awards for the category of ‘Best R&B Video’ for ‘I'll Be Missing You’.

In 1998, she received the Grammy Award for the category of ‘Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group’ for ‘I'll Be Missing You’.

She has a daughter named, Chyna, with music producer, Kiyamma Griffin.

On August 4, 1994, she got married to rapper Christopher ‘The Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace, with whom she had a child named, Christopher Wallace Jr. in 1997. She separated from Wallace in 1997 before he was murdered mysteriously.

In 1998, she had a son named Joshua with record company executive Todd Russaw. In 2007, the couple got married and subsequently had their second child. In 2011, she filed for divorce.

In 2008, she came out with her autobiography titled, ‘Keep the Faith: A Memoir’.

She married Stevie J. in 2018.

This Grammy Award-winning R&B singer was once arrested for drunken driving in California.