Faith Evans: More than just “Biggies Wife”

Early Life 

Faith Evans was born June 10th, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Her mother is black while there have been rumors that her father is Italian or white. Her mother, Helene Evans, was a professional singer and her father was a musician. Helene, her mother was 18 years old and lived in Lakeland with Faith, her twin sister Hope, and their two younger siblings, Missy and Morgan. Faith was sent to New Jersey to live with her mothers older cousins who raised her. During the time Faith was in Newark, there were riots because of economic suffering. The first time she ever sang in public was when she was three years old at her church in New Jersey. When she was 14, she went on a Gospel tour with a group called “The Spiritual Uplifters”, they traveled through New York, Philly, and Connecticut.

Musical Development 

The organizer of the gospel tour got Faith hooked up with a role in a video shoot for the single “You Must Learn” by Boogie Down Productions in which she was first introduced to hip hop music. Inspired artist include albums by Earth Wind and Fire, Donna Summer, and Anita Ward. At a young age, she was exposed to artist like Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchel, and CeCe Rogers. After graduating from high school and attending Fordham University for a year, she had a baby with music producer Kiyamma Griffin and moved back to Newark after the relationship didn’t work. Faith did session work as a background singer for R&B artists, such as Al B Sure and Christopher Williams. Faith was noticed by producer Sean Combs and helped write songs for Usher and Mary J Blige. In 1994, Faith was the first female artist to be signed to Bad Boy Records, set up by Sean Combs. In 1995, Faith released her first solo album, “Faith”, which included two of her most popular songs that eventually went gold, “Soon as I Get Home” and “You used to Love Me’. After Biggie’s death, Sean combs helped Faith produce a song called “I’ll be Missing You” It went NO. 1 on billboard charts and won a Grammy in 1998. Faith’s ex-husband, Todd Russaw, helped produce her third album “Faithfully” in 2001 and the album was certified Gold the following year. Faith left Bad Boy records in 2003.

Relationship with Christopher Wallace aka “Biggie Smalls”

In the summer of 1994, Faith met Biggie and they were married in a matter of eight days. Their marriage wasn’t ideal, Faith was in Brooklyn working on her first album while Biggie was on tour and they hardly ever saw each other. In 1997, Biggie was killed in LA. By then he and Faith had separated and had a four-month-old son together. They were still legally married. In 2017, Faith released an album with her late husband called “The King and I”, which featured her vocals and never before heard verses from Biggie.

Something New 

That same year, she appeared in the film “The Fighting Temptations” and recorded Donna Summer’s “Heaven Knows” for the soundtrack. In 2005, Faith signed and Capitol Records and released her fourth album, “The First Lady” that peaked at NO. 2 on the Billboard 200 top charts. Faith released a Christmas album later on that year called “A Faithful Christmas” and it was the last album with Capitol Records because they merged to Virgin Records in 2007 and made cuts to the albums roster. In 2010, Faith came back to the music scene with her own record label, Prolific Music Group, in which she released her own album “Something About Faith” which placed NO. 15 on the charts. In 2012, Faith co-executive produced and was a cast member for the show “R&B Divas”. Faith is now married to record producer and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Steven Aaron Jordan aka Stevie J. The two, who had known each other since working together on the Bad Boy label in the 1990s.

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