Evanescence - WikiHQ

Evanescence is an American rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent EPs and a demo CD as a duo in the late 1990s, Evanescence released their debut studio album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Propelled by the success of hit singles including "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal", Fallen sold more than four million copies in the US by January 2004, garnering Evanescence two Grammy Awards out of six nominations. They released their first live album and concert DVD, Anywhere but Home, in 2004, which sold over one million copies worldwide.

Evanescence released their second studio album, The Open Door, in 2006, co-composed by Lee and guitarist Terry Balsamo. It received a Grammy nomination and has sold more than six million copies worldwide. With Balsamo, guitarist Troy McLawhorn, bassist Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt, the band reconvened in 2009 to work on music for their next album, Evanescence. Released in 2011, it marked the first album co-written as a band. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums charts. Following the end of the album's tour cycle, the band entered a hiatus.

In 2014, Lee and Evanescence left their record label and became an independent band. The band emerged from hiatus in 2015 and resumed touring, while a new album was not yet created as Lee was also focusing on a solo project. In 2016, Lee stated that Evanescence was working on a fourth album, Synthesis (2017), composed of orchestral and electronica arrangements of previous material alongside two new songs. Its release was followed by the Synthesis Live tour, in which the band performed with live orchestras for the first time. After pandemic delays, Evanescence released their fifth album, The Bitter Truth, in 2021, which reached the top five of the Billboard Independent, Alternative, and Hard Rock charts. The band's upcoming sixth album, Sanctuary (2026) is preceded by the song "Afterlife" from the Netflix series Devil May Cry.

Classified as a gothic alternative metal and hard rock band, among other genres, Evanescence have a diverse sound incorporating various musical styles including classical music, alternative music, heavy metal, industrial music, and electronic music, driven by Lee's contrasting musical pursuits and introspective songwriting. Beginning as a duo partnership, Evanescence had several lineup changes, and became a band collaboration in 2009. The band comprises Lee, McCord since 2006, McLawhorn and Hunt since 2007, and bassist Emma Anzai since 2022. Among other accolades, Evanescence has received two Grammy Awards, three Loudwire Music Awards, a Kerrang! Award, a Revolver Golden Gods Music Award, a Rock Sound award, a Brit Award nomination, three American Music Award nominations, and five MTV Video Music Award nominations. Evanescence have sold a total of 31.9 million albums, making the band one of the best selling hard rock and metal artists of all time.

History

1994–2000: Formation and early years

Singer and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody met in 1994 in Little Rock, Arkansas at ages 13 and 14, when the two were at a Christian youth camp where Lee played piano during sport activities and Moody played acoustic guitar and she thought they could play music together.

Lee had the musical vision for Evanescence. What made her want to start a band was "the idea of combinations that were unlikely". Danny Elfman's film scores were a significant influence for her when she began creating Evanescence's music. "There was all this music that was inspiring me. And Evanescence was the product of these two extremes combining". They wanted a name that was "out of nowhere", and when they came across the word they found it "beautiful" and "elusive". Their demos got them airplay on the local modern rock station in Little Rock, which helped them develop a local fanbase, allowing them to play a couple of bigger shows a year and hire other musicians to perform other instruments live. Although they played with guest musicians, Evanescence remained a duo. which they sold at local shows, Lee and Moody stated that the CD was not an official release, but a compilation of their demos.

Lee said that at the time of signing, they did not realize the label would move them out to Los Angeles for two years, thinking it would be about six months. The length of time in Los Angeles "really frustrated" them.

A few weeks later, the label relented, informing them that they would release their album if they agreed to have a male rapper on its lead single, "Bring Me to Life", in order to give something familiar to listeners. Lee was not happy about this, but reluctantly agreed to the compromise and wrote the part for the male vocal. She originally wanted the lead single to be "Going Under" as she was concerned that the public would hear "Bring Me to Life" with its male vocal and decide that was the sound of the band. She was relieved that people were still receptive to Evanescence when "Going Under" was released as their second single. Most of Lee's writing on Fallen was inspired by an abusive relationship she was in. Lee also disagreed with the nu metal tag, attributing it to the rap rock of "Bring Me to Life". Moody's comments against being in the Christian market immediately prompted the label's chairman Alan Meltzer to send a letter to Christian radio and retail outlets explaining that despite the "spiritual underpinning that ignited interest and excitement in the Christian religious community", Evanescence were "a secular band, and as such view their music as entertainment" and the label then "strongly feels that they no longer belong in Christian retail outlets". Wind-up formally requested the recall of Fallen from Christian retailers and radio stations. After receiving the letter, many Christian radio stations pulled Fallen songs from their playlists. She noted that Evanescence "has never been a Christian band" and lyrically never had a religious affiliation.

thumb|left|Evanescence performing in 2003 at [[Red Rocks Amphitheater.]]

On April 7, 2003, Wind-Up released "Bring Me to Life" as the album's lead single. Wind-up president Ed Vetri revealed that when the label had introduced the song to radio, radio programmers rejected it, saying, "A chick and a piano? Are you kidding? On rock radio?" Some program directors would hear the female voice and piano at the start of the song and turn it off without listening to the rest of the song. The song became a global hit for Evanescence and reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 on June 6, 2003. It topped the UK singles chart, where it peaked for four weeks from June–July 2003. On the worldwide success of the song, Lee said:

Evanescence performed on radio shows and on the festival circuit for weeks in early 2003. They embarked on their first headlining tour from April to May in the US. In June 2003, they had to cancel shows in Germany due to Moody reportedly falling ill. Lee recalled the rapid success after the album was released, with concerts going from club shows to arenas in two months. In an August 2003 interview, Moody said that Evanescence is "just Amy and I, and I want to keep it that way", adding that their process together is what works. In another interview with Rock Sound, he said that he would like tour drummer Rocky Gray to play on the next album but did not need the other tour players, LeCompt and Boyd.

On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band during the European tour for Fallen, reportedly because of creative differences. Moody had called their management and informed them he was quitting. She said that by that point Moody "hated the band, he hated being on tour and his negativity made everyone around him miserable. He was trying to pull the whole ship down with him" and she would not let that happen. Lee said that she and Moody had not been friends since their teenage years, and they had pretended to be friends after Fallens release when they were really only business partners.

Lee said that she and Moody had never sat down and wrote together, and instead would combine their respective parts in songs. From the start, Lee would only write music by herself, considering it a vulnerable process and feeling disrespected by Moody and unsafe around him. The creation of Fallen largely consisted of her and Moody writing music separately and then adding to each other's work, due to tension and significant creative differences between them. Lee's creative disagreements with Moody included his strict approach to songwriting and focus on commerciality; he would "always be corralling" her ideas, and wanting to push them in a more commercial, pop direction. She said his influences were "a lot different" from hers. He also said that he struggled with substance abuse during his time in Evanescence.