Faith Evans
Born June 10, 1973
Faith Evans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer whose powerful voice and emotional depth made her one of the defining artists of the Bad Boy Records era. Known as the "First Lady of Bad Boy," she achieved her greatest commercial success with "I'll Be Missing You," a tribute to her late husband The Notorious B.I.G. that became one of the best-selling singles of the 1990s.
New Jersey Roots and Finding Her Voice
Born on June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida, Faith Evans grew up primarily in Newark, New Jersey, raised in large part by her aunt after her mother relocated. She was immersed in gospel music from childhood, singing in church and developing the lung power and emotional expressiveness that would define her professional style. She attended the University of Southern California on a music scholarship before leaving to pursue her recording career full-time. As a session singer and songwriter in New York, she attracted attention for her ability to convey raw feeling even on material written for other artists, leading to her signing with Sean "Puffy" Combs's new Bad Boy Records in 1994.
Bad Boy Records and Notorious B.I.G.
At Bad Boy Records, Evans quickly became central to the label's defining sound. She contributed vocals and songwriting to major releases and became the first female artist signed to the label. In August 1994, eight days after meeting Christopher Wallace — The Notorious B.I.G. — she married him. The relationship was turbulent; both were public figures navigating fame, infidelity rumors, and the pressures of the mid-1990s East Coast hip-hop world. Her debut album Faith (1995) reached the top twenty on the Billboard 200 and produced several R&B hits, establishing her as a force in her own right independent of her famous husband and label boss. She was developing follow-up material when B.I.G. was murdered in Los Angeles in March 1997.
Did You Know?
"I'll Be Missing You," the tribute Faith Evans recorded with Puff Daddy following the murder of The Notorious B.I.G., spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, making it one of the longest-running number one singles of the decade. The track interpolated the melody of "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, for which Sting was credited as a songwriter. Despite her later insistence that the record was created in raw grief — Evans has described recording her vocals through tears — it became the biggest commercial moment of her career and one of the most recognizable songs of its era. The record donated proceeds to a trust for B.I.G.'s children.
Solo Career and Enduring Legacy
Evans released her second album Keep the Faith (1998) while still processing the grief of her husband's death and the extraordinary public attention surrounding it. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and produced significant R&B hits. She continued releasing records through the 2000s and 2010s, including the well-received The First Lady (2005) and collaborations with artists including Mary J. Blige and Kelly Price. She married musician Todd Russaw in 1998 and later married Stevie J of the group Jodeci in 2018, a marriage that became part of the WE tv reality franchise. Throughout her career she has maintained a reputation as one of the most vocally gifted and emotionally grounded singers of her generation, and "I'll Be Missing You" remains among the defining memorial songs of the 1990s.