Voletta Wallace, the mother of the late Notorious B.I.G., has died at the age of 72. Wallace, the founder of the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, died in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday, February 21, TMZ reported.
Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac has confirmed that Wallace died of natural causes. She was in hospice care before her death.
Who was Voletta Wallace?
Wallace, a Jamaican immigrant who worked as a school teacher, raised B.I.G. (real name Christopher Wallace) as a single mother in Brooklyn. B.I.G.’s father walked out on the family in 1974.
On March 9, 1997, B.I.G. (also known as Biggie Smalls) was shot dead after leaving a Soul Train Awards afterparty. He was killed in a drive-by while sitting in a green Chevy Suburban, parked on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
After B.I.G.’s death, Wallace spent her life celebrating his music and overseeing his estate – reportedly worth $160 million. She was also the producer for the 2009 movie about her son, titled Notorious.
Wallace celebrated B.I.G.’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. “Today, I’m feeling great,” she told Billboard at the time.
“As a mother, I’m extremely proud of his accomplishments. You know, I still see such a young man at a young age, and sadly, he’s not here to witness all this. But it’s an astute honor, and as a mother, I’m just elated for that,” she added.
“Many of [his songs] speak truth,” she continued of her son. “It might be gritty, and maybe the language is so out there, but he was honest. There was nothing fake about what he was doing. I think for such a young man to resonate such honesty in his lyrics is awesome.”