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August 2010

You can’t keep the soulfully stirring voice of Faith Evans down.

While the veteran singer-songwriter has not released an album since her 2005 set, The First Lady, she is ready to re-enter the music scene on her own terms.

After starting her own label Prolific Music Group, Faith signed a distribution deal with E1 Music (formerly Koch Records). With her new single “Gone Already” making the rounds, the former Bad Boy star, who has been called one of the most vocally gifted talents of her era, is going independent on her sixth work Something About Faith, due out in October.

Indeed, the former widow of the late hip-hop icon The Notorious B.I.G. is not one to stay silent. From experiencing R&B superstardom, coping with the tragic death of Big Papa, battles with Sean “Diddy” Combs to her 2004 arrest and redemptive return, Faith opens up on the stories behind her music.

Faith (1995)

Before my debut album, I was fresh out the church. I was born in Florida, but I grew up in New Jersey, so I had a tough edge. This is why I was able to survive in this big cipher of people that I had to work with at Bad Boy. The very first time I met Puff Daddy in 1992 I was pregnant with my daughter China.

Her dad was a producer in Christopher Williams' camp. Puff was producing a song on Chris’ last album on Uptown and I was in LA at the time, so they called me to the studio just to sing some background. Now mind you, I had no plans on trying to get a record deal. I didn’t think of myself as being a recording artist. I was just a girl who could sing and write songs. If I was going to end up being a lounge singer that would have been cool with me. I just did my part and that was it.

Close to a year later, my daughter was about a year old and her dad and his production crew were trying to get signed as producers to Bad Boy. I drove them to the studio, so I’m sitting in the lounge waiting with my baby while Puff was working on Usher's first album. There was one background part that needed a female and they were like, ‘Mama, could do it,’ because that’s what they used to call me back then. I went in the control room, heard the part and said, ‘Excuse me Mr. Puffy [laughs]. Do you mind if I change it around?’

So, I went in the booth, rearranged the hook and added some parts and soon as I came out the booth, Puff pulled me to the side and asked me if I would be interested in signing to his new label.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah…I think so [laughs].’ Early on, I was very naïve in terms of the industry. I was nice to everybody. I thought everybody was my friend.

Puffy had me come back to finish working on Usher’s album and then I started work on Mary J's My Life while my deal with Bad Boy was being worked out. When I write a song today, I have to think so much harder. But back then I used to make up songs off the top of my head.

I would go in the booth and create a song from top to bottom, which is what I did with “You Used You Love Me.” After a couple of hours I came up with some ideas and found the basic melody for the chorus. Once I laid the harmony, I called Puff to tell him about my idea for the hook. He came in from the other studio and I just remember being in the booth building up the song. Puff must have called everybody he knew in New York in the industry when I was working on “You Used To Love Me”! I saw everybody from Andre Harrell to Q-Tp to Michael Bivins, who was with my current husband at the time.

I was just so nervous because I always recorded with the lights off. Once everybody started coming into the studio to listen to the song with that ‘Wow’ look on their faces, I knew it was special. I remember when “You Used To Love Me” was playing on the radio and Funkmaster Flex was dropping bombs on it like crazy. I was driving down Fulton Street in Brooklyn and I just started crying, ‘Thank you, God!’ That was my first time experiencing success. I knew that I had a gift, but I also knew that everybody doesn’t have to like what you do. For me to even go platinum was just incredible.

“I’ll Be Missing You,” Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans and 112 (1997)

There are lot of things that were very similar about Biggie and myself.

I came up in Newark, so I wasn’t that far removed from the type of surroundings where Biggie grew up in Brooklyn. His mom was a devout Jehovah’s Witness and my grandparents were devout Christians. But most of all, I loved his spirit. I was never someone who liked to date the pretty boy or the jock. I like people who make me feel good about myself. The very first time I met BIG it was more of a funny connection. We were at an early promo shoot for Bad Boy—just BIG, myself and Craig Mack. I happened to be with Hurrican Gloria that day, who used to be down with Redman.

I had just come from Red’s house. People don’t know, but Red was my 9^th grade boyfriend [laughs]. Red was the church drummer at his mom’s church. This was before the music industry. He’s my daughter’s Godfather. So back to BIG…he and his crew knew Hurricane and they were looking at me like, ‘How do you know this chick?’ I ended up dropping BIG off in Brooklyn.

He told me he was going to call me when he got out the car, but I hadn’t given him my number [laughs]. We got married a few weeks later.

Obviously, BIG’s death was a crazy time for me.

I think “Missing You” was the first song I recorded during this period. I was still in shock; I just wanted to know who killed my husband. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even want to record “Missing You.” But after a while, I thought it would be a good idea to do a tribute to BIG and put something together for our kids and their future. Still, I didn’t want to perform that song on the MTV Video Music Awards. Once it blew up, I remember Puff calling me cursing me out like, ‘You ain’t going to f**k this s**it up!’

I was crying because I just didn’t want to go onstage. Yes, I understood that ‘Missing You’ was a hit record, but performing that song was a fine line between doing something because it’s from your heart and doing it solely for commercial purposes. But this is a business, so I had to suck it up. What you saw on that show is exactly what I was feeling. I was still in mourning. I was still sorting out having to deal with his death and supporting Ms. Wallace.

This all aside from having to get onstage and sing! I don’t think I’ve ever watched that performance. But God helped us to reach the best of our abilities that evening.

Keep The Faith (1998)

As I said before, I didn’t want to be in the studio after BIG’s death. At this time, I was in such a dark place that I didn’t even want to record at Daddy’s House and I didn’t want anyone to come to my sessions. There are a lot of songs I would have not included on Keep The Faith. But once I finally realized that I had to get back into the studio, “Love Like This” was one of the first songs I recorded.

‘Love Like This’ was a song that put me in a better place because it was a dance track. It was a feel-good record, very up-tempo, which was therapeutic in terms of getting me out of that dark place I was in at that time. It took a lot of struggle to help me get through this period. The success of Keep The Faith helped me cope.

Faithfully (2001)

Before this album, there was never any pressure for me to lose weight. I can’t say that no one ever mentioned it to me, but there was never any real push. But when I moved to Georgia, I met a young lady who was a physical trainer who was just a great person. For me, that made the whole difference because when I started working out with her, I really saw a new me. I’m crying and sweating; overtime it took some work because I wasn’t into fitness, but by the time I started taking photos for Faithfully, I knew my hard work was paying off. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been showing off my arms [laughs].

I still think that the “I Love You” clip was one of my best-looking videos ever. And that’s beyond me being in shape. But I remember being nervous because of the lead guy in the video.

I had never done a sexy video like that where I was touching on a man. My husband was right there just behind the camera [laughs]. It was kind of crazy. But hey, I was looking good. And musically I thought I was better than ever.

But this was also the time when Puff was obviously transitioning Bad Boy from one label home to the next. And I was probably the last one to find out. I remember my husband and I taking a meeting with L.A. Reid and I’m thinking he’s about to be my boss! My record was out and I didn’t want my shit to be lost in the shuffle.

I just felt a little insulted because I had been a part of Bad Boy since the beginning. I felt like I was one of the original people on the roster, so why wouldn’t I know that we were changing labels, especially when I was so excited about Faithfully? I used to drive Puffy’s Range Rover when my car got stolen. I felt we were close. He didn’t ask me how I felt about the situation. That’s when I started thinking, ‘Maybe I need to leave Bad Boy.’

The First Lady (2005)

I’m really proud of this album. Before I made it, I built a recording studio in my house in Georgia. I was in the middle of nowhere and it was really creaky down there, so I was like, ‘I ain’t getting no work done…I might as well record some music.’ I was also dealing with some outside issues, but I was used to that. Because before that, there was the East Coast/West Coast beef with Tupac.

I already experienced people slighting my name based on things that may or may not have been true. So [my arrest] was not hard to deal with. [*Editor’s note: In January of 2004, Faith and her husband Todd were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine. Faith candidly chronicled the incident on her single “Again.”] I think people thought it was harder for me to deal with than it really was. But I don’t really worry about what people think.

"I started recording songs in my home studio that ended up helping me get my deal with Capitol. I guess you can say I had faith in Faith [laughs].

My fans were satisfied with the new music. I had already been very much on top of my craft in terms of knowing how to write, arrange and produce a song. So I didn’t feel any apprehension about going to Capitol. Still, being on Capitol and off of Bad Boy was uncharted waters for me. Yet, the same confidence I had when Puff asked if I wanted to be on his label, that was something I had before I met him. He never had to baby sit me at my recording sessions. But once I signed to my new label home, I realized the difference between them and Bad Boy.

Capitol didn’t have much presence in the urban market. I would be out on the road to work my record and they would have the promo radio people asking the receptionist could I come on the radio station [laughs]. I never went through this at Bad Boy. I could just walk into a radio station by myself. But looking back, it was a good move. I acquired my publishing back. I stayed at Capitol until it didn’t work out and I didn’t owe anyone nothing.

A Faithful Christmas (2005)

I always wanted to record a Christmas album, but I thought for a longtime that it would be something I wouldn’t get to do for a long time in my career. I always thought that you had to have a certain number of albums out to release a Christmas record. I would hear these holiday songs and think, ‘Oh, this would be dope…’ I recorded A Faithful Christmas on the road in hotels and it came out pretty good. I’m glad Christmas comes every year [laughs].

Something About Faith (2010)

I’m just thankful that I’m still able to do what I love. There’s so much talent out there today beyond the music industry. Some artist’s music will probably never see the light of day. But I look at them and say, ‘Oh my God…if I could only sing like you!’ When people say I’m a last of a dying breed, I take that as a compliment. But there are other people out there. My 12-year-old son can sing…he can blow. I’m not trying to make him the next American Idol, but there’s talent there. During my time away, I stayed busy. I got pregnant, so I decided to work on my book Keep The Faith: A Memoir (2008) because I had some time on my hands. I didn’t want to speak on the different sensationalized things that I’ve been through unless I was writing my life story. I got with the right collaborator [Aliyah S. King]; someone who got me. And it turned out to be a huge success.

I describe my new album Something About Faith as the new adventures of the old Faith. My first single is called “Gone Already.” It’s a ballad that was produced by Carvin Haggins, Ivan Barias and myself. I just stay in my lane, but I still listen to everything out there and try to respect and appreciate anybody who manages to break through. I have four kids, so I have to stay in tune with what’s happening.

I just try to represent well for those Faith Evans fans. As I get older, I have to check myself at my shows when I sing a line like, ‘In ATL I caught a case, and the motherfuckers tried to say…’ My husband is like, ‘You have to stop cursing like that [laughs].’ I try to be a lot more conscious of that now, especially in public. But in the end, I’m still the same Faith.

http://www.vibe.com/conte...-catalogue

interesting to read, thanks for sharing

Good read. Funny that I dusted off her first album on my ipod late last night, and had "Ain't Nobody" on a constant loop.

I put on one of her older songs too after a friend shared it a couple of weeks ago, otherwise I'd forgotten about her.

Glad she's back.

She's a good singer, but I never felt she was GREAT. However, I do miss the mid 90s music and she was a huge part of that, so she gets props for that. How old is she?

scriptgirl said:

She's a good singer, but I never felt she was GREAT. However, I do miss the mid 90s music and she was a huge part of that, so she gets props for that. How old is she?

37.

I've always liked Faith. Thanks for the nice read.

Timmy84 said:

scriptgirl said:

She's a good singer, but I never felt she was GREAT. However, I do miss the mid 90s music and she was a huge part of that, so she gets props for that. How old is she?

37.

I thought she would have been in her early 40s by now! I don't know why I thought she was older than that?!

Great read on an amazing talent!!

Didn't know she was once married to Biv

Redman a church drummer??!!

^

She didn't say she was once married to Michael Bivins. Bivins and her current husband (Todd Russaw) used to hang out together.

yeah, i read it wrong

my bad

I heard I'll Be Missing You at a store today and thought of this thread and how hard it must have been for her.

Cinnie said:

That was a very broad overview. The stories in her autobiography are more interesting!

She wasn't lying when she said in an old interview that she was a real around-the-way gal some of the stories are chicken headed as the day as long, but then again we all are guilty of a lil' chicken-headery, its all part of growing up.

Reading that book though, tells me that she's at peace with her past and her choices. As for singing, scriptgirl, I think her finest moments haven't been caught on tape, Puffy and all those producers stifled her talent,,,,,check this wedding performance of her singing "You & I" in youtube, with her Pepa wig cocked to the side to me, thats great per4mance.

[Edited 8/16/10 19:32pm]

FaithEvans said:

I still think that the “I Love You” clip was one of my best-looking videos ever. And that’s beyond me being in shape. But I remember being nervous because of the lead guy in the video.

I had never done a sexy video like that where I was touching on a man. My husband was right there just behind the camera [laughs]. It was kind of crazy. But hey, I was looking good. And musically I thought I was better than ever.

Cinnie said:

FaithEvans said:

I still think that the “I Love You” clip was one of my best-looking videos ever. And that’s beyond me being in shape. But I remember being nervous because of the lead guy in the video.

I had never done a sexy video like that where I was touching on a man. My husband was right there just behind the camera [laughs]. It was kind of crazy. But hey, I was looking good. And musically I thought I was better than ever.

She did look hot in this video. I knew she was a song writer before. But didn't know she was this talented. Real talent last a long time. She has had an interesting life..

I remember watching this video when it was new and my mom loved it right away, unlike most of the new music I listened to then.

Harlepolis said:

Cinnie said:

That was a very broad overview. The stories in her autobiography are more interesting!

She wasn't lying when she said in an old interview that she was a real around-the-way gal some of the stories are chicken headed as the day as long, but then again we all are guilty of a lil' chicken-headery, its all part of growing up.

Reading that book though, tells me that she's at peace with her past and her choices. As for singing, scriptgirl, I think her finest moments haven't been caught on tape, Puffy and all those producers stifled her talent,,,,,check this wedding performance of her singing "You & I" in youtube, with her Pepa wig cocked to the side to me, thats great per4mance.

[Edited 8/16/10 19:32pm]

Dang, ya'll really making want to buy her book and read it for myself.

Harlepolis said:

Cinnie said:

That was a very broad overview. The stories in her autobiography are more interesting!

She wasn't lying when she said in an old interview that she was a real around-the-way gal some of the stories are chicken headed as the day as long, but then again we all are guilty of a lil' chicken-headery, its all part of growing up.

Reading that book though, tells me that she's at peace with her past and her choices. As for singing, scriptgirl, I think her finest moments haven't been caught on tape, Puffy and all those producers stifled her talent,,,,,check this wedding performance of her singing "You & I" in youtube, with her Pepa wig cocked to the side to me, thats great per4mance.

That's exactly how I felt.

very nice.

i love faith. she's a great talent and i'm glad she's back w/ a new album.

btw, i almost forgot about her book. i need to read that!

I like the duet & video she did with Eric Benet... The remake called "Georgie porgy".......

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

I like the duet & video she did with Eric Benet... The remake called "Georgie porgy".......

I like that one also. I also like this one she did with BIIM.

[Edited 8/18/10 12:30pm]