Evanescence

Evanescence was founded by singer, songwriter and pianist Amy Lee; after Ben Moody had heard her at a youth camp playing I’d do anything for love by Meat Loaf on the piano, they both decided to create a rock band Evanescence. This was really long ago – in 1994.
New members of Evanescence – guitarist John LeCompt, bass-guitarist David Hodges and a drummer Rocky Gray joined the band in the year 1995.

So they started recording new songs; their first songs were Give unto me, My Immortal, Solitude and Understanding exceptional for his length – 7.21 minutes. These really sensual songs with artistic lyrics were not well known, because Ben and Amy didn’t have enough money to play as many concerts as they both wanted.
But one day Ben was listening to the radio and was very surprised listening to their song Understanding. This was actually the start of Evanescence’s fame.

Their first full-length demo CD, Origin which released in 2000, is relatively unknown, but very qualitative.
The first is the self-titled Evanescence EP (1998), of which about 100 copies were made. The second is the Sound Asleep EP, also known as the Whisper EP (1999), which was limited only to 50 copies.

In early 2003, the first complete album Fallen was released. At the time all members of Evanescence began to know, what means the word FAME.
They started playing many concerts;
The first big successes came in 2004. Evanescence was nominated for a Grammy in the categories Album of the year, Best rock album, and Best rock song.
The nominees were for the members very special and they had been surprised after all the Grammy’s categories were announced, because they won a Grammy for The best new artist, and The best hard rock performance!

Fallen spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10; has been certified 6x Platinum; and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, including 6.6 million in the United States. The album was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard top 200, and it was one of eight albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year on the Billboard Top 50.
Evanescence's major label debut single "Bring Me to Life", which features guest vocals from Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones, was a global hit for the band and appeared as a Soundtrack for the film Daredevil. Actually, this song made Evanescence famous!

They were some changes in the band meantime. David Hodges left the band because of his family; Ben Moody left Evanescence because he wanted to make his own career; John LeCompt and Rocky Gray left Evanescence too. Ben was replaced by a new guitarist Terry Balsamo.
Amy Lee was not sad at all, because she brought next 3 members to the band – bass-guitarist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt, and a guitarist Troy McLawhorn.
The new album The Open Door released in 2006 and brought new famous songs to the music world.
The first song was Call me when you’re sober. Amy Lee always said that this song had really sincere lyrics and was hard to sing and to play.
Then released next 3 singles: Sweet sacrifice, Lithium and Good enough.
Amy Lee didn’t care how many copies of the album would be sold; she wanted people to like it and it made her happy. The open door has sold over than 7 million copies.

AMY LEE

Amy Lee is according to me a very universal person. She is a perfect singer, songwriter and pianist.
Her lyrics are really very dark, artistic and full of emotions. Her big inspiration is, of course, her life, but her songs are full of thoughts about death.
Those lyrics are the reason, why a lot of people think, that Amy is Satanist or a witch. They think so, because her image is very special, extravagant and gothic.
She always wears a really nice dress or a skirt, heavy boots and her make-up makes her really pretty.
But she denies the stupid affirmations and says that she has only a custom image and the lyrics are so dark because of her thoughts and her life.
When she was young, she was a really peaceful and shy girl.
But of that girl became a self-confident fantastic singing woman famous all over the world.

Amy Lee says that now she lives the best part of her life. She is happy; she has a loving husband; she loves making music and lives in Los Angeles.