The Notorious B.I.G.'s Real Name: Christopher George Latore Wallace

Quick answer: The Notorious B.I.G.'s real name was Christopher George Latore Wallace. He was born on May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn, New York. He also performed as Biggie Smalls. He released Ready to Die (1994) and was killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, at 24. The case remains unsolved (Biography.com; Britannica).

Real name and early life

Biography.com gives his full name as Christopher George Latore Wallace, born May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn. His parents were from Jamaica. His mother, Voletta, taught preschool; his father, Selwyn, left the family when Wallace was two. He grew up near Bedford-Stuyvesant and attended the Roman Catholic Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School before later leaving school. He acquired the childhood nickname "Big." As a teenager he began rapping in his neighborhood.

Career highlights

After recording a demo as Biggie Smalls — a name Biography.com traces to a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again — the tape reached Sean "Puffy" Combs. Wallace worked with Combs at Uptown Records and, in 1993, was signed to Combs's new label, Bad Boy Entertainment. He had already been forced to change his recording name after a lawsuit, Biography.com says, and became known as The Notorious B.I.G., though many listeners still called him Biggie.

Guest work included a verse on a Mary J. Blige remix of "Real Love." His first solo album, Ready to Die, appeared in 1994 and was widely credited with reviving attention to East Coast hip-hop. He married the R&B singer Faith Evans, also a Bad Boy artist, on August 4, 1994. The single "One More Chance," which featured Evans, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also formed the group Junior M.A.F.I.A. and began work on a second album in 1995.

Death

He was killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, at 24, after leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum. The murder has never been solved, and no one has been convicted. His second studio album, Life After Death, was released later that month, on March 25, 1997. A tribute single by Combs, "I'll Be Missing You," later won a Grammy Award for best rap performance by a duo or group in 1998. Biography.com notes that the song was nominated in the same category as Wallace's own "Mo Money Mo Problems."

Name notes for searchers

Christopher George Latore Wallace was his full given name. Biggie Smalls was an early stage name; The Notorious B.I.G. was the later recording name. Searchers looking for Biggie or Biggie Smalls are usually aiming at the same person.