Next to her recording career, Evans is widely known as the widow of New York rapper Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, whom she married in 1994 two months after meeting at a photoshoot. The turbulent marriage led to Evans' involvement in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop feud, dominating the rap scene at the time, and ended with Wallace's murder in a yet-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in March 1997. A 1997 tribute single featuring Puff Daddy and 112, entitled "I'll Be Missing You," became Evans' biggest-selling hit to date and won her a Grammy Award in 1998.
After marrying Todd Russaw and having a third child, named Joshua, Evans released her long-awaited follow-up, Keep the Faith in 1998. Unlike the solemn approach to her first album, this album spoke of optimism, good times, and love. Among its biggest hits include the Chic-sampled track "Love Like This" (#7 US), the P. Diddy helmed "All Night Long" (#9 US), and Babyface lent her a number-one R&B hit song with "Never Gonna Let You Go". Outside of her own albums, Evans found another hit that year with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on the song "Heartbreak Hotel".
Evans released her third album, 2001's Faithfully, which included the hit singles "You Gets No Love" (#8 R&B) and "I Love You" (#2 R&B). For the album's promotion, Evans went through a transformation in her physical appearance. Always a slightly full figured woman, Evans shed over fifty pounds and presented a sexier image that was present for the videos to "I Love You" and "Burnin' Up". Fatman Scoop also sampled her vocals on the song "Be Faithful" in 2003, which reached number one in the UK. Although the album wasn't as largely promoted as her first two, it was a moderate success. The album was certified platinum in January 2002, with over 1 million units sold.
Evans rebounded with a record that many of her fans have proclaimed as her strongest record to date, The First Lady (released on April 5, 2005) her Capitol record debut album. After finding success with her Twista collaboration, "Hope", Evans released her first song of new material in three years with "Again", a biographical account of her life struggles. Faith recorded "Say A Prayer" with gospel music star Donald Lawrence on his "I Speak Life" album in 2004. The First Lady came out commemorating her tenth anniversary in the industry and her first record on Capitol Records after leaving Bad Boy in 2003. With the help of "Again" reaching the top ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and appearances on David Letterman, BET, Later... with Jools Holland and MTV the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with 160,000 copies sold in its first week, marking the largest first-week total of her career. The First Lady was RIAA certified Gold selling over 600,000 copies to date. The second single, "Mesmerized", saw Faith going with a 70's retro-funk soul vibe. The track failed to crack top fifty R&B despite numerous remixes; however a dance remix by the Freemasons went on to hit number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
At the end of 2005, Evans released her fifth studio album, A Faithful Christmas, a Christmas collection of new material and covers of seasonal classics. She also made lots of appearances on holiday TV programming. In early 2006, Faith Evans' third single, "Tru Love" (produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox), gradually gained ground on urban/urban AC radio without any assistance from her label since they never promoted (sent to radio) or had a video for "Tru Love", becoming her twelfth solo R&B hit (Top 30). Also in 2005, Evans appeared along with Jessi Colter and Cece White as a feature vocalist on the Shooter Jennings song "Southern Comfort" from the album "Put the O Back in Country".
On October 5. 2010, Evans' sixth album, "Something About Faith." The album debuted at #4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #15 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 23,586 copies in its first week. The albums' lead single "Already Gone" peaked at #22 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. The albums' second single and music video "Right Here" was released on February 14, 2011.
In 2012, Evans became a cast member of TV One reality show R&B Divas Atlanta alongside Nicci Gilbert, Syleena Johnson, Keke Wyatt and Monifah. Evans also co-executive produces the show.[25] The album R&B Divas Atlanta, led by Evans was released on October 2, 2012. Proceeds from the album will benefit the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative & Performing Arts in East Orange, New Jersey.
On August 6, 2013, Evans confirmed she had begun work on her 6th album, tentatively titled Incomparable. Evans also revealed guest appearances for the album are slated to include Missy Elliott, KeKe Wyatt, B.Slade and Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters. "I Deserve It", a record featuring recurring collaborator Missy Elliott and her protégée Sharaya J, was released via iTunes on August 25, 2014 as the album's lead single. Incomparable was released on November 24, 2014. On TMZ, Evans had announced that she is working on a posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album titled The King & I, which will feature duets with the two. She plans to release it sometime in 2015.
All This Love
Faith Evans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love like this before
Never had someone to show me a love
Love like this before
Now that we have, come to be
A brand new light, I can see
Never thought you'd be
The reasons are because of you
I can go on and make it through
I can't even take my mind off lovin' you
And I wanna say
I never knew there was a
Love like this before (a love like this before, no)
Never had someone to show me a love
Love like this before
I know, you can't see
All the things you mean to me
I'm so amazed that you are mine
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah
If we can work together
Maybe this can last forever
This is somethin' that I wanna hold on to
So baby, try to understand
Baby, try to understand
I'll be crazy if you leave
'Cause you compliment my style
And I like the way you walk
And the sexy things you talk
You don't know just what you do to me
You see I never
I never knew there was a
Love like this before (a love like this before, no)
Never had someone to show me a love (ooh I never had a)
Love like this before
I never knew there was a
Love like this before (never knew, never knew)
Never had someone to show me a love
Love like this before
Baby, try to understand
I'll be crazy if you leave
'Cause you compliment my style
And I like the way you walk
And the sexy things you talk
You don't know just what you do to me
You see I never
Never knew a
Never knew a
Never knew a
Love like this before
Never knew a
Never knew a
Never knew a
Love like this before
I never knew there was a
Love like this before (never had somebody)
Never had someone to show me a love
Love like this before
I never knew there was a
Love like this before (I never knew but I'll find you)
Never had someone to show me a love
Love like this before
I never knew there was a
Love like this before
Never had someone to show me a love
In Faith Evans's song All This Love, the lyrics tell the story of discovering an unexpected love that has never been experienced before. The first verse reflects on the newness and depth of the love, expressing amazement at having someone who is capable of showing such devotion. The chorus repeats the sentiment of the title, reinforcing that this type of love has never been known before. The second verse expresses gratitude for the person who brings this love, stating that they are a special part of her. The bridge offers a plea to work together to make the love last, and a testament to how important it is to hold on to this profound love. The song speaks to the transformative power of finding an unexpected love that alters one's perspective and understanding of what is possible in a relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
I never knew there was a
I had never experienced a love like this before
Love like this before
Such a deep, emotional and intense kind of love
Never had someone to show me a love
I had never met someone who could exhibit love to me like this
Now that we have, come to be
Now that we are together and experiencing this love
A brand new light, I can see
I can see things differently now - in a positive light
Never thought you'd be
I never expected that you would be
A special, part of me, no baby
You have become a special and integral part of my life
The reasons are because of you
The reasons for my happiness are because of you
I can go on and make it through
I can face any challenges that come my way because of you
I can't even take my mind off lovin' you
I am constantly thinking about how much I love you
And I wanna say
I want to express my feelings and emotions to you
I know, you can't see
You may not fully realize or understand
All the things you mean to me
The depth of emotions I have for you
I'm so amazed that you are mine
I feel incredibly lucky to have you in my life
If we can work together
If we can both commit to making this relationship work
Maybe this can last forever
Perhaps, we can have a long-lasting relationship
This is somethin' that I wanna hold on to
Our love is worth holding on to
So baby, try to understand
Please try to comprehend my feelings and thoughts
I'll be crazy if you leave
I'll be devastated without you
'Cause you compliment my style
You are the perfect person for me and our personalities match
And I like the way you walk
I appreciate every little thing about you
And the sexy things you talk
I love the way you express yourself, even in the simple things you say
You don't know just what you do to me
You have a tremendous impact on my life and emotions
Never knew a
I had never experienced a love like this
Love like this before
This genuine love that brings happiness and joy to my life
never knew
I had no prior knowledge of
never had somebody
I had never encountered someone
I never knew but I'll find you
I didn't know what I was missing until I found you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, O/B/O CAPASSO, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Bernard Edwards, Clarence Emery, Faith Renee Evans, Joseph Kier Gordon Caleb, Lloyd Perrin, Nile Gregory Rodgers, Ronald Anthony Lawrence, Schon Jomel Crawford, Sean Puffy Combs
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind