b. 10 June 1973, Lakeland, Florida, USA. Married to hardcore rapper the Notorious B.I.G., urban R&B singer Faith Evans originally rose to prominence by singing background vocals and co-writing songs for Mary J. Blige, Color Me Badd and Tony Thompson. She broke through as a solo artist in the mid-90s with the release of her winning debut single, "You Used To Love Me". Mixing slightly lisped rap sections with soulful singing of her predominantly romantic concerns, her self-titled debut album followed expertly in the tradition of Blige, with a wide cast of producers and collaborators. Without ever demonstrating the originality to separate her from a host of "new jill swing' peers, Faith was sufficiently contemporaneous and lavishly executed to arouse interest throughout the R&B community. It peaked at number 2 on the Billboard R&B album chart, and number 22 on the Top 200. Following Notorious B.I.G."s murder in March 1997, Evans appeared on the international number 1 tribute single "I'll Be Missing You" by Sean "Puffy" Combs. Her own minor hit "Love Like This" (US number 7/UK number 24) was built around a sample from Chic's "Chic Cheer", and premiered the US Top 10 album Keep The Faith.
Source: Vh1.com |
