Raised in New Jersey by her mother and grandparents, Faith Evans began to develop her vocal talents in the church choir at the age of two, later moving on to roles in musicals during her high school years. After graduation, a brief postponement of her ambitions to become a professional singer was made to pursue a scholarship at Fordham University, but within a year Faith Evans would fully commit herself to a career in the music industry. Faith Evans initially established herself as a songwriter and background singer, penning tracks for Mary J. Blige and adding her voice to recordings by Color Me Badd and Pebbles. Faith Evans's work eventually attracted the interest of Sean Puff Daddy Combs, who made Faith Evans the first female signing to his Bad Boy label and produce her 1995 eponymous debut; the album reached #2 on the R&B charts and featured three popular singles, including the duet with her friend Blige, Love Don't Live Here Anymore. That same year she married fellow Bad Boy recording artist Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace a mere nine days after being introduced at publicity shoot. Faith Evans would subsequently appear on his platinum single One More Chance. In 1997 Wallace was assassinated in the absurd culmination of feud between East and West Coast hip-hop camps; soon after, Combs would release the tribute song I'll Be Missing You, featuring vocal contributions from Faith Evans. The next record of her own, Keeping the Faith, did not surface until 1998 and met with somewhat diminshed success from that of Faith Evans's debut, although the single Love Like This and her contributions to Whitney Houston's Heartbreak Hotel album would both earn her Grammy nominations.
In the early 2000s, Faith Evans founded her own production company, Pedigree MGI, with second husband/manager Todd Russaw and released a third album, Faithfully. The album earned Evans another two Grammy nominations and restored some forward momentum to her career. Several ventures into acting were also made during this time, including a role in The Fighting Temptations (2003).
