TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Local Showtimes
• Past Shows
• Blogs
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Ms. Evans' official site
• Article on Ms. Evans
• Ms. Evans on Capitol Records

E-mail a friend

Tavis: Faith Evans is a terrific singer/songwriter known to many as the first lady of R&B and hip-hop. Back in 1995, her first CD, which I was just banging the other day, 'Faith,' went platinum. Two years later, she won a Grammy for best R&B performance. This year she has two, bam, CDs out. First up, 'The First Lady,' which features collaborations with Mario Winans and Twista. My mama just said, "Who?' Twista, mama, Twista.

Up next, a new Christmas CD. My mother loves Christmas CDs, Faith. A new CD called 'Faithful,' I'll bring it home, mama, 'Faithful Christmas,' which includes a couple of new songs and several holiday classics from the first lady. Hey, Faith.

Evans: Hey, Tavis.

Tavis: You all right?

Evans: I'm great.

Tavis: Nice to see you again.

Evans: Nice to see you.

Tavis: You're looking well as always.

Evans: Thank you.

Tavis: You know, this is the holiday season, so I wanna talk about this Christmas CD first. But since it's the holiday season, I know a lot of folk are gonna get their eat on at Christmas time. But just after Christmas, everybody makes those New Year's resolutions, they're gonna lose weight this year.

Every time I see you, I am constantly amazed because your fans know, I count myself among them, that you lost a lot of weight some time ago, but you, miraculously, have kept this weight off. So what advice do you wanna give to all the folk about to make those resolutions they gonna lose some weight in '06?

Evans: Well, believe it or not, that's sort of a resolution of mine, too. But, I think just really be focused on it and know that it's not gonna be overnight, if you're trying to do it the right way. But there's nothing wrong with a resolution. You gotta start somewhere. But, you know, it's work. But it's part of my life.

Tavis: Do you struggle with maintaining, particularly given that you're on the road so much, performing and moving around?

Evans: I wouldn't say so much struggle, because the hardest struggle was having to really lose a bulk of weight. I think, now if I put on five, seven pounds, I'm worried. But I'm obsessive enough about it to know that it's not gonna be hard. I'll never have to go through the same struggle, so, it can't be that hard.

Tavis: If you're scared about five or seven pounds, I put on five pounds on Thanksgiving Day. (laughs) I should have been freaked out, if that were the case. But anyway, you look great, and I'm glad to have you here. Speaking of Christmas music, I was joking earlier about my mama. My mama watches the show every night. Hi, Mom.

She loves Christmas CDs. I know she's gonna call me and say, "Make sure you bring that Faith CD home for Christmas. I wanna get that.' My mother can listen, I'm gonna tell on her, my mother, not can, but will, my mother will pop in a Christmas CD in July.

Evans: (laughs) Well, I wouldn't say we extend it till the summertime, but my husband Todd, you know, he plays Christmas music a lot, probably Thanksgiving and after. That's sort of what sparked the idea to go ahead and do a Christmas album, because over the last few years, we light the Christmas-smelling candles and put on the Christmas CDs.

And then to have finally gone and discovered how many were actually out there and delve into some of the artists that people wouldn't expect me to cover on a Christmas record, that's definitely what inspired it, playing it around our house.

Tavis: Let's talk about some of the folk that you do cover, because that's always a fascinating concept for me, the notion of putting out a Christmas CD. Because one, every Christmas song has been covered 20 million times. And you have to have a reason for wanting to put it out, so why did you want to put it out? And how did you decide what you wanted to cover on this one?

Evans: Well, we wanted to put it out because it was just a good time for me to go ahead and take that opportunity. I was able to start recording while I actually on tour.

Tavis: And to get this out now, you had to record this probably in July somewhere.

Evans: Yeah, we started around July, and it didn't take long, because we had already mapped it out and had basically downloaded all the Christmas albums we could off of iTunes, and then gradually, by process of elimination, we knew, okay, we wanted to do a Frank Sinatra record, or the kid, the James Brown. And the songs that are on there were just the ones that struck us when we were listening to those albums.

Especially, like I said the factor of covering things that someone wouldn't just expect Faith Evans to cover. There are certainly a few traditional ones that we've heard a lot of times. But I definitely wanted to do a few songs that, although they were recorded, like the James Brown and the Eartha Kitt/Frank Sinatra, they weren't covered as much as a lot of other Christmas songs. And I thought that was important as well.

Tavis: Here's a stupid question. Won't be the first time or the last time. So when you decide to do a Christmas CD? And you're covering a lot of stuff, do you approach the project - when you downloaded all these songs, do you approach it saying, "I can sing anything I wanna sing. I'm just that gifted, and that skilled. Ain't none of this stuff I can't sing.'

Or do you say, 'There's some things that my voice, my style, my phraseology, my gift lends itself better to these songs versus these songs?' So how do you approach? Because you got a gazillion songs to choose from.

Evans: Well, I would say it's a little bit of both in the sense that, especially what you said about my vocal stylings. I mean, there's some stuff on there that I definitely added my flavor to it. But I think that's something that was really, really important, like about the part my husband plays in all of the creative process.

I mean, trying to approach a song and not do it how you would do it. You know what I mean? Like when I was recording 'Santa Baby,' he suggested that I go back and record it again to kind of feel more like her, and get that little Betty Boopish attitude, you know, in the song. So it sort of works both ways sometimes.

Tavis: Well, it's some good stuff. I was listening to it earlier, and a lot of good stuff on here. And, I will get this for you, Mama, for Christmas. So that's one gift you already know you're gonna get. Faith's new CD. Let me go back to this other, the CD that came out earlier this year. 'Faith, the first lady.'

This was your first project away from Bad Boy. The story goes anyway that you asked out of that contract so that you could do this. After all the time with Bad Boy, why leave, why a new record label?

Evans: Well, it was just time for me to apply my experience and make a new start, and be able to approach it with the knowledge of someone who isn't just a new artist. And just to have a place that they were ready to shoulder the project and understand, you know, the artist that I need to be, that I haven't quite, you know, haven't quite been able to be perceived as. And to give me that mark, that push, you know, in lots of other areas, and it was just time. It was time.

Tavis: Let me get inside your head right quick, or inside your camp. When you all are sitting down, you and your husband and your crew, having conversations about where you want to take your career. I don't want to get too inside baseball here, but what's the center of that conversation now?

Because after you've been out a while and you've sold records and, sold enough records to be referred to by this moniker, "The first lady of R&B," "The first lady of hip-hop," so people know your stuff. You've got a big fan base. What are the conversations about now? What are we trying to do with Faith now? Where do we want to take this career now?

Evans: Well, I wouldn't say it's a real crew. It's pretty much him and myself.

Tavis: I ain't mad at y'all.

Evans: (laughs) But, you know, it's just never thinking that you're too good to get better. I mean, you know, always trying to figure out how you can enhance it or how you can, whether be, you know, be bigger commercially or look better. You know, sound better, be a little more original in songwriting and work with different people.

And, you know, just not being afraid to try different things and not just stay in what people expect, or what's being played right now on the radio. I think at this point, I definitely have a fan base, and I'm a lot less afraid to do something that's not expected of Faith Evans.

Tavis: I'm glad you said that, Faith, because you recognize that. I love radio, and yet I have a love-hate relationship with radio. I love it because, I'm - it's everywhere I go, and I always have it on somewhere. I hate it because I hear the same stuff all the time.

And to your point, you gotta be really courageous, either one of two things, either courageous or just outright stupid to put out a project that you know is different than what everybody in the programming world at radio wants to hear from Faith.

Evans: Well, that, I would never do that. (laughs) That certainly is something you have to factor in.

Tavis: I'm just saying, if you try something different, I mean, which is a good thing. I'm not hitting on you for that. If you try something different, you run the risk that folk in radio may not embrace it, because it ain't what they want from Faith.

Evans: Right. This is true. But I think that, as a package, when you talk about making an album, I mean, you certainly have to think about that. You know, factor in at least, like, okay, this is definitely a radio song. You know? But sometimes that may not be the one that radio embraces. You know? So it's like, there's no real way to gauge it like that.

And I just feel like when you do music and create things that you really feel and believe in, and, I mean, we're very critical. I go in the studio, and I can listen to a song after I record it for months and months, and if I still like it, you know, then that's what it may - and we end up axing it for one reason or another, if it's not something that we continue to feel up until the time to turn in the project.

Tavis: I saved this question for last, and I literally have about 20 seconds left on that clock. And I wanted to give you literally just a few seconds, because I don't want to ask about Biggie. I wanted to ask you whether after all these years since you're here in LA where he died, whether you're tired of being asked about Biggie.

Evans: (laughs) Well, that's, it's a double-edged sword, that question. I was actually asked, answered that question a little bit earlier. I mean, it's certainly something that I have to - work hard at not being identified by, you know, the fact that I was married to him.

But it's - I understand people's fascination. But I just certainly try and take every opportunity to divert people's focus from that being what makes me, you know.

Tavis: Well, that said, I ain't gonna ask you no questions about Biggie. No problem. Two new songs by Faith, as a matter of fact, on this Christmas CD, I forgot to mention. So it's not just the standards. She got some stuff on there that she wrote as well. Nice to see you, Faith.

Evans: Good to see you again.

Tavis: Happy holidays to you.

Evans: Thank you.

Tavis: Thanks for watching. We'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A. And keep the faith.