Faith Evans

A singer, songwriter and actress from the United States, Faith Evans worked as a backup vocalist for Christopher Williams and Al B. Sure! before Sean Combs signed her to Bad Boy Records in 1994 as its first female artist. Raised in New Jersey after her birth in Lakeland, Florida, she released her debut album Faith in 1995, then appeared on Combs' 1997 single I'll Be Missing You, which won Best Rap Performance at the Grammy Awards. Her next two albums, Keep the Faith (1998) and Faithfully (2001), drew further critical praise, and after joining Capitol Records she reached number two on the Billboard 200 with The First Lady (2005). Later releases included Something About Faith (2010) and Incomparable (2014). She made her screen debut in Turn It Up (2000), appeared in The Fighting Temptations (2003), and her memoir Keep the Faith won a 2009 African American Literary Award.