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Faith Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an R&B singer from Newark, New Jersey, who achieved fame in the early 1990s. She is most often remembered for being the widow of the late rapper, Notorious B.I.G.. Faith Evans was considered an R&B superstar for much of the early and mid '90s, as part of P. Diddy's successful Bad Boy record label. Along with other premier female soul singers at the time, Mary J. Blige and Aaliyah, Evans sang the chorus on the popular remix of B.I.G.'s single "One More Chance". As Evans and B.I.G. (who was one of Diddy's closet friends) slowly became closer, P. Diddy started to spend more time working on Faith's upcoming album than work with Blige at the time who was visibly upset over what she saw as a disrespect on Diddy's part, she parted from Diddy in 1995 but would be present on Faith's first album writing several singles for her as Faith had done on Blige's 1994 album, My Life.
With Diddy's full concentration on Evans, the First Lady of Bad Boy's debut album, Faith Evans was released in early 1995. Its singles, "Soon As I Get Home", "You Used To Love Me", "Come Over", and "Ain't Nobody" became smashes at urban radio that year and into 1996. The album also contained a duet with Blige on a cover of Rose Royce's disco hit, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore".
After her husband's murder in early 1997, Evans joined 112 and P. Diddy in recording "I'll Be Missing You", a touching song which sampled The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and acted as a fitting tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. Although Evans had had previous urban successes, this song was the first that mainstream America heard of her.
Evans' sophomore album, Keep The Faith, was released in 1999. It produced the singles "Love Like This" and "All Night Long", featuring P. Diddy, both of which failed to catch on with mainstream radio despite performing substantially at urban radio. The album's third single, "Never Gonna Let You Go", was less successful.
In early 2001, Evans released "Good Life", a single from the Fast And The Furious soundtrack, which featured rap from Murder Inc. members Ja Rule, Vita, and Cadillac Tah. The same year, she was featured on Carl Thomas' single, "Can't Believe". In late 2001, Evans released her third album, which spawned the successful urban single "You Gets No Love". The next single, a tender ballad called "I Love You", was released in early 2002 and achieved moderate pop success--a first for a Faith Evans single.
"Burnin' Up", the album's third single, featured Bad Boy rapper Loon and was successful on urban radio, despite failing to make the pop charts. The video was a remix of the song, which featured extra raps from Missy Elliott, in addition to Loon, and garnered substantial MTV2 play throughout the summer of 2002.
In 2004, Evans and her husband got into trouble when the couple was arrested for having marijuana and a crack pipe in their car. They later were granted misdemeanors and paid for their crime. Now signed to Atlantic Records after her tenure with Bad Boy ended in 2003, she will release her fourth album, The First Lady this spring. She can be featured on the hit single with rapper Twista titled "Hope" on the Coach Carter soundtrack.
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