What Happened to Faith Evans- News & Updates

Florida-born Faith Evans is considered by many to be one of the most gifted hip-hop music artists in the industry. Born into a musical family, Evans began singing at the age of two and first caught the attention of others with her talent when she was four years old. Known for her angelic soprano voice, she made her professional singing debut in 1995 with her self-titled album entitled Faith. Since then, she has released several albums throughout her career and has also embarked on many tours all around the world. Some of the records which she’d released over the years include, Keep the Faith (1998), Faithfully (2001), The First Lady (2005), Something About Faith (2010) and Comparable (2014), amongst others.

In addition to her booming music career, Evans is also well-known as the widow of Christopher Wallaceーa New York rapper whom she’d married in 1994 after meeting at a photo shoot. A highly celebrated rapper, Wallace was tragically murdered in an unsolved shooting in Los Angeles in March 1997. Following his death, Evans produced a tribute song with the help of executive producer, Sean Combs entitled, I’ll be Missing You with also took part in the single, alongside a band called 112. Based on the melody of an earlier 1983 single, the song soon became a critical success, having debuted at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in the United States. A huge hit, the single eventually garnered Evans a Grammy Award for “Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.”

Besides her ties with music, Evans has also worked as an actress briefly behind the camerasーshe made her debut on the big screen playing a minor role in the action film entitled, Turn It Up in 2000. She has worked alongside big name celebrities, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Beyonce as well in the musical comedy film, The Fighting Temptations in 2003. As a tribute to her late husband, Christopher Wallace, she also made a guest appearance in the 2009 biographic film, Notoriousー which centred around his tragic, unsolved murder from 1997. Throughout the 2010’s, Evans has also been featured as a guest star in a few reality television series, including R&B Divas: Atlanta (2012), Real Husbands of Hollywood (2015) and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (2015).

But what has the talented singer-songwriter been up to as of late? What projects have she been embarking on? What happened to Faith Evans? Where is she now in 2018?

Faith Evans’ Early Life and Talents in Singing

Born on June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida, Faith Renee Evans is the daughter of Caucasian father, Richard Swain and Africa-American mother, Helene Evansーboth whom were musicians; however Evans would never meet her father since he’d left the family prior to her birth. As a toddler, her mother moved to Newark, New Jersey, leaving Evans in the care of her cousin, Johnnie Mae and her husband Orvelt Kennedyーa pair which had housed over a hundred children in their home at the time as a foster family. Growing up, Evans would eventually refer to Johnnie and Orvelt to be her grandparents. A couple years after being left with the two, Evans’ mother returned in attempts of taking her daughter home; however reluctant to leave the environment which she’d grown used to, Evans convinced her mother to relocate next door instead.

Raised as a Christian in the home, Evans first began to sing when she was two years old at the local church. Two years later at the age of four, she caught the attention of many at the Emmanuel Baptist Church with her vocal abilities in a rendition of the song Let The Sunshine In, by The 5th Dimension. As a teen, Evans attended University High School located in Newark and was an active member of the Jazz bands, with with she had often sang with. With encouragement from her mother, Evans eventually gained recognition as a singer in the city after competing in a variety of music contests and festivals during her time as a student. After her high school graduation, Evans enrolled at Fordham University to study marketing but would later drop out due to being pregnant with her daughter, Chyna with her then-boyfriend, Kiyamma Griffin.

At the age of twenty, Evans moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a backup vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning artist, Al B. Sure!ーit would be then that her talents as a singer would be noticed by musician, Sean Combs (aka “Puff Daddy”). Impressed with her abilities, he eventually offered Evans a recording contract with his label, Bad Boy Entertainment in 1994.

Faith Evans’ Life and Music Career During the 1990’s

As the first female music artist signed to Bad Boy Records, Evans was asked to help with the backup vocals of the albums of musicians Mary J. Bilge and Usher prior to her own debut album in 1994. After eventually moving on to work on her own record, Evans released her first studio album entitled, Faith in August 1995. Consisting of fifteen tracks, most of which were written by the singer herself, the album was recorded over a period of eight months from November 1994 to June 1995. Praised for her “perfect voice” by critics upon its release, Faith later peaked at number two on the Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums Chart and at number twenty two on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart. A highly successful debut record, it has since sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

Shortly prior to the release of her album, Evans also married popular rapper and fellow label-mate, Christopher Wallace in August 1994. Having met at a photo shoot, the pair later had a son together named Christopher Jordan Wallace Jr., who was born in 1996. However despite the addition to the family, the couple had a bumpy marriage and it wasn’t long before Wallace was reported to have cheated on Evans on various occasions. The music artist eventually separated from him in early 1997; just a few months before his eventual murder on March 9, 1997. In 1998, Evans began a relationship with record company executive, Todd Russaw; he two married in the summer of 1998 and have two children together.

After working on her upcoming album for two years, Evans released her second studio album entitled, Keep the Faith in October 1998. As the second solo effort in her career, the singer wrote and produced most if not all of the album’s fifteen tracks. A few weeks following its release, the record peaked at the number three spot on the Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums and at the number six spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart; it also charted overseas in the UK, where it peaked at number sixty nine on the UK Albums Chart. Met with positive reviews, Keep the Faith was later certified Platinum by the RIAA for having achieved over one million sales.

Faith Evans’ Music Career Throughout the 2000’s

The singer released her third studio album in 2001. Entitled Faithfully, the record was the first of Evans to have involved a wider range of music producers including, Mario Winans, The Neptunes, and Vada Nobles, amongst othersーit would also be her last album under the company, Bad Boy Records. Following the success of her earlier albums, Faithfully peaked at number two on the Top R&B and Hip-Hop albums Chart and number fourteen on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart; it eventually also received gold certification by the RIAA. Composed of fifteen tracks, the album would go on to spawn four successful singles including, You Gets No Love, I Love You, Alone in This World, and Can’t Believe.

In 2004, Evans signed a recording contract with Capitol Records after leaving Bad Boy Records earlier in 2003. Under the new label, she began working on her fourth studio album called, The First Lady later that year. Eventually released in April 2005, the album was hugely successful, having debuted at the top of the R&B and Hip-Hop Chart and at the number two spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart and sold over 157,000 copies in the first week aloneーto this date, The First Lady remains to be Evans’ highest ranking album on both charts. Well-recieved by critics, the album also received a nomination a Soul Train Music Award for “Best Female R&B/Soul Album” in 2006.

Following a run-in with the law and a subsequent hiatus from recording, Evans released her fifth studio album under record label, E1 Entertainment in October 2010. Entitled Something About Faith, the album consisted of sixteen songs and marked Evans’ first independent release in her career. Topping the U.S. Independent Albums Chart, and ranking fifteenth on the Billboard 200 Chart, the record went on to sell over 23,000 copies within the first week. Hailed to be one of her best albums, Something About Faith received much positive reception from critics and was later nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance” in 2011.

Over the next few years, Evans made several appearances on television including the reality series, R&B Divas: Atlanta, R&B Divas: Los Angeles and Real Husbands of Hollywood. In November 2014, she released her sixth studio album entitled Incomparable under the Prolific Music Group. However in contrast to her earlier successes, the record would only sell 3900 copies during the first weekーmarking it as one of Evans’ lowest-selling albums throughout her career.

What’s Faith Evans Doing Now in 2018- Recent Updates

The R&B music artist has spent much of this year preparing and working on her upcoming album, The King & I. According to Evans, it will serve as a posthumous album for the late Notorious B.I.G. and act to recreate the chemistry between the two with a few duets. Recruiting the help of some familiar music producers from her Bad Boy Entertainment days, the album is currently in its finishing stages and is set for a 2017 release although no official date has been announced as of yet.

Speaking of the former recording label, Evans is scheduled to make an appearance at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour later this September, after not having been able to make it for several of the earlier performances in the country. Celebrating twenty years of the Bad Boy lifestyle, the tour features many familiar faces including Puff Daddy, MASE, Lil’Kim, Mario Winans, The Lox, amongst several others. First kick-offed at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour is currently ongoing, and is set to end on October 8, 2016 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California after twenty six shows across the United States and in Canada. If you’re a fan, you’d be glad to know that tickets are still availableーbetter get them while you still can!

If you’d like to stay up to date with the American singer, you can follow her over on social mediaーyou can find the star on Twitter (@faithevans) and on Instagram (@therealfaithevans). Alternatively, you can also visit her official Facebook page for some of her latest news!