Faith Renée Evans, an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, and author, was born on June 10, 1973, in Florida, but grew up in New Jersey. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in the music industry.
Prior to her solo career, Evans worked as a backing vocalist for Al B. Sure and Christopher Williams. She then became the first female artist to be signed to Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment recording company in 1994. During her time with Bad Boy, she released three platinum-certified studio albums between 1995 and 2001.
In addition to her music career, Evans is known for her tumultuous marriage to the late New York rapper Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. The couple met at a Bad Boy photoshoot in 1994 and got married just a few weeks later. Their marriage was marked by controversy, as it was a part of the East Coast-West Coast hip hop feud that dominated the rap music news at the time.
Tragically, Wallace was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in March 1997. The event was met with widespread shock and grief, and Evans was deeply affected by his death. She released a tribute single, "I'll Be Missing You", featuring Puff Daddy and the band 112, which became her best-selling song to date and won a Grammy Award in 1998.
In addition to her music career, Evans has also pursued acting and writing. She made her screen debut in the 2000 musical drama Turn It Up, and her autobiography, Keep the Faith: A Memoir, was released by Grand Central Publishing in 2008. The book won a 2009 African American Literary Award for Best Biography/Memoir.
