Eve Jihan Cooper, known professionally as Eve, is a Grammy-winning rapper, singer, actress, and television personality from Philadelphia. Her debut album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1999, making her the third female rap artist to achieve this milestone.
Eve gained widespread recognition for her roles in the Barbershop film franchise, portraying Terri Jones, and for starring as Shelley Williams in the UPN sitcom Eve. She also appeared in the films The Woodsman (2004), The Cookout (2004), and Whip It (2009). From 2017 to 2020, she was a co-host on the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk. Additionally, she launched a clothing line called Fetish, which ran from 2003 to 2009.
Throughout her career, Eve has earned numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award, a BET Award, an MTV Video Music Award, and a Teen Choice Award. She has also received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. Eve was listed among VH1's "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era" and named one of the "30 Greatest Female Rappers Ever" by Spin magazine in 2020.
Born on November 10, 1978, in Philadelphia, Eve is the daughter of Julie Wilcher, a publishing company supervisor, and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor. She lived in West Philadelphia until age 13, when her family moved to the Germantown section of the city.
Eve attended Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia. During her teenage years, she briefly worked as a stripper. In a candid 1999 interview with Rolling Stone, Eve acknowledged that experience, stating it was short-lived but ultimately helped her find direction. "It lasted about a month," she said. "It helped in the discovery of Eve and developing a committed relationship with myself."
Originally passionate about singing, Eve took part in several choirs and helped form an all-female singing group managed by an industry insider. Initially focused on R&B covers of En Vogue and Color Me Badd songs, the group eventually transitioned into rap at their manager's suggestion. When the group disbanded, Eve began a solo career under the stage name "Eve of Destruction."
After high school, Eve moved to New York City to pursue music seriously. Although she briefly worked as a stripper during this period, she redirected her focus toward her musical ambitions. Her big break came when friends arranged an audition with Dr. Dre, who signed her to Aftermath Entertainment under her moniker "Eve of Destruction." Though she was eventually dropped from the label, citing Dr. Dre’s uncertainty about how to position her, one track made it onto the soundtrack of the 1998 film Bulworth—marking her first major industry placement.
Interscope, Aftermath's parent label, later introduced her to Ruff Ryders Entertainment. The label signed her and immersed her in a rigorous artist development program. "It was like a boot camp," Eve told Vibe magazine, describing how she had to prove her lyrical abilities alongside label-mates like DMX, Jadakiss, and Swizz Beatz. Ruff Ryders' decision to treat Eve with the same expectations as her male peers was pivotal in her growth as an MC. “They never treated me like ‘the girl in the group,’” she shared with uInterview.com. “They treated me like an equal.”
