Faith Evans + Leslie Odom Jr. - Mary Did You Know - Taraji's White Hot Holidays - 2017

Faith Renée Jordan (née Evans; born June 10, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, Evans relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al B. Sure! and Christopher Williams, she became the first female artist to contract with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment recording company in 1994. On the label, she featured on records with several label mates such as 112 and Carl Thomas, and released three platinum-certified studio albums between 1995 and 2001: Faith (1995), Keep the Faith (1998) and Faithfully (2001).Newly contracted to Bad Boy Records, Evans was consulted by executive producer Combs to contribute backing vocals and writing skills to Mary J. Blige's My Life (1994) and Usher's self-titled debut album (1994) prior to starting work on her debut studio album Faith.[8] Released on August 29, 1995, in North America, the album was a main collaboration with Bad Boy's main producers, The Hitmen, including Chucky Thompson and Combs, but it also resulted in recordings with Poke & Tone and Herb Middleton. Faith became a success based on the singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home". The album was eventually certified platinum with 1.5 million copies sold, according to RIAA.After Biggie's murder on March 9, 1997, Combs helped Evans produce her tribute song named "I'll Be Missing You", based on the melody of The Police's 1983 single "Every Breath You Take". The song, which featured Combs, Evans, and the all-male group 112, became a worldwide number-one success and debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during 1997, scoring that for eleven weeks. It eventually won Puffy and Evans the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.[2] The next year, she received another two Grammy nominations for "Heartbreak Hotel", a collaboration with singers Whitney Houston and Kelly Price, that scored number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chartIn 2012, Evans co-executive produced and became a cast member on the TV One reality show R&B Divas: Atlanta alongside fellow R&B singers Nicci Gilbert, Syleena Johnson, Keke Wyatt and Monifah.[27] The show offered an inside look at how the singers balance their music careers and personal lives as they work towards producing an Evans-led compilation album, R&B Divas (2012), in memory of Whitney Houston. Broadcast to rating records for the network,[28] the series produced a spin-off titled R&B Divas: Los Angeles and was renewed for two further seasons. Evans, who left the show following its second season, earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album at the 55th awards ceremony