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 thinks what drew them together at the time was that they "didn't fit in that well" and were "out of [their] element in this silly camp environment". Within a month of meeting, Lee brought Moody a cassette tape of her playing guitar and singing a song she wrote. They became musical collaborators, playing and working on music at Lee's home, Lee said their music at the time "sounded different because we didn't have the means to make it sound like we wanted". Strings, choirs, and "dramatic, cinematic" sounds were musical desires they couldn't materialize as they were "just two kids in a basement". 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". 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. 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. . 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. In August 2010, he released a statement on his history with Lee and Evanescence, where he said that he was a different person at the time, his friendship with Lee had deteriorated, and they had conflicting opinions, personalities, and desires with the band. Moody apologized to Lee for comments he made to her in anger. He said he realized the band would end if he stayed and believes he made the right choice. He added, "Evanescence has progressed a great distance from the original sound, and made it clear that they intended to expand much further. Amy is very artistic and never has had a problem thinking outside of the box and defying expectations." , Paris, featured on
Anywhere but Home Lee called former
Cold guitarist
Terry Balsamo, with whom Evanescence had toured, to replace Moody on the
Fallen tour. Balsamo soon joined Evanescence as the permanent lead guitarist. She and Balsamo "clicked" and "connected on a lot of musical interests".
Fallens third single "My Immortal" was released on December 8, 2003, and peaked at number seven on the US Hot 100 and the UK singles chart. On May 31, 2004,
Fallens fourth and final single "
Everybody's Fool" was released, and peaked at number 36 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, Lee had begun writing music again by November, including the songs "
Lacrymosa" and "Together Again", which she initially wrote for the soundtrack of the 2005 film
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but were rejected by the studio. During the
Fallen tour, Lee wrote a song titled "The Last Song I'm Wasting on You", recording it in a bathroom on an
analog recording device. It became a B-side on the single "Lithium" from Evanescence's second album. and it was one of eight albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year in the top 50.
Fallen was also number six on
CBS's list of "Top Bestselling Albums of the Last 10 Years". It was
certified platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in April 2003 and 4× platinum in January 2004. In 2023, Lee recalled the journey of early success, stating that "there was a lot to be excited about, but there was a lot of hard stuff going on in the background. Not just drama about what we were doing, but also my brother was sick, and it was a scary time to be out on my own. And I did, in a lot of ways at that time, feel alone." She found the extensive exposure and objectification at that age difficult to handle, and did not feel supported by those around her. With everything happening, she was "just sure it was always right about to fall apart." Lee deemed the "fight for credibility" as a creator to be one of the biggest challenges she faced early on with the
Fallen era, explaining: "It was the mentality of labels to tell, especially newer artists, that they need to have writers. ... And the reason that they wanted [men] to do it was because that's where the money was. That's where the power was. Everybody else wanted to be able to say they did that when I did that".
2004–2007: The Open Door Lee musically collaborated with Balsamo for Evanescence's second album,
The Open Door (2006). They began writing together in March 2004, after finishing the tour for
Fallen. The album progressed slowly for several reasons, including Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production, Balsamo's
stroke, and turbulence with their former manager. The writing experience for
The Open Door was "the best process" Lee ever had because she had "free rein" and could "do whatever I wanted without being judged". In 2006, Lee said that when she listened back to
Fallen, she "hear[d] all the vulnerability and the fear and all the childish things in me that are just human." While Lee was drowning in the misery of her experiences in
Fallen, she said
The Open Door is largely about her acknowledging her issues and deliberating "what do I have to do to work this out." On July 13, 2006, Lee announced that bassist Will Boyd had left the band after the album was completed for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family". In an interview with MTV, Lee announced that Tim McCord, former
Revolution Smile guitarist, would switch instruments and play bass for the band.
The Open Doors lead single "
Call Me When You're Sober" hit modern rock and alternative rock radio on August 7, 2006. The 13-track album was released in the US and Canada on October 3, 2006; the United Kingdom on October 2, 2006; and Australia on September 30, 2006. The album sold 447,000 copies in the US in its first week of sales and earned their first No. 1 ranking on the
Billboard 200 album chart. The music video for "Call Me When You're Sober" was shot in Los Angeles and is based on the
fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood.
The Open Door became available for pre-order on the
iTunes Store on August 15, 2006; the music video for "Call Me When You're Sober" was also made available. The tour for
The Open Door began on October 5, 2006, in
Toronto, and included locations in Canada, the U.S., and Europe during that year. This first tour continued on January 5, 2007, and included stops in Canada (alongside band
Stone Sour), Japan, and Australia (alongside band
Shihad), and then returned to the U.S. for a second tour in the spring (alongside bands
Chevelle and
Finger Eleven). As part of their tour, Evanescence performed on April 15, 2007, on the Argentinian festival Quilmes Rock 07 along with
Aerosmith,
Velvet Revolver, and other local bands. On May 4, 2007, guitarist John LeCompt announced that he had been fired from Evanescence, and also stated that drummer Rocky Gray had decided to quit. Lee stated that LeCompt and Gray had joined as tour players after
Fallen was made, and were treated as full members with their picture on album images. When it came to making the second album, she and Balsamo tried writing with them but they were ultimately not compatible. Lee said LeCompt and Gray disliked the music, were vocal about not caring about the band, and had been working with their other bands but stayed as Evanescence live players for the money while planning to leave at a later time. She added that she "knowingly let this negative energy grow within my band for a very long time because I was afraid of the appearance of falling apart when in reality trying to hold on to these guys is what was holding us back." In 2010, LeCompt said of his time in the band, "[Evanescence] was so big and important to my career and my life so I look back on it with fondness. We left the band but that doesn't say anything about my time in that band." On May 17, 2007, former
Dark New Day members, drummer
Will Hunt and guitarist
Troy McLawhorn were announced to have joined Evanescence on tour, replacing Gray and LeCompt. Lee and Balsamo said that the addition of Hunt and McLawhorn was good for the band, as they're easy to get along with, have similar tastes, are passionate players, have good energy on stage, and enjoy being in the band. The band finished their European tour with a sell-out concert at the Amphi in
Ra'anana, Israel, on June 26, 2007. After the European tour, they co-headlined Korn's
Family Values Tour 2007 in the US, and followed it with a headlining tour in the US. After the end of the album's tour, Lee took a break to recollect herself and live life away from the industry. By October 2011,
The Open Door had sold six million copies worldwide.
2009–2014: Evanescence and hiatus About 18 months after Lee stepped away from the industry, she began writing music again, and went into the studio with producer
Steve Lillywhite. In a news posting to the Evanescence website during June 2009, Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing new material for a new album proposed for release in 2010. The band played a "secret show" at the
Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom in New York City on November 4, 2009, with label mates
Civil Twilight. Tickets for the show sold out in five minutes. This show acted as a warm-up for their headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in
São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8. In January 2010, Evanescence released "Together Again" as a digital download, a song created for
The Open Door but later cut. The song was released to aid the
United Nations Foundation in
Haiti earthquake recovery efforts. It later received an official release as a digital download on February 23, 2010. Evanescence entered the studio on February 22, 2010, to begin recording for the new album, with Will "Science" Hunt assisting in
programming.
David Campbell, who previously worked on
The Open Door, was brought back to handle string arrangements, and the album was initially being produced by Lillywhite. Lee later said that "Steve wasn't the right fit" and was replaced by producer
Nick Raskulinecz. It was later revealed that the record label had scrapped the material recorded with Lillywhite. At the time the band began recording, the album was intended for an August or September 2010 release. However, on June 21, 2010, Lee announced on EvThreads.com that Evanescence had temporarily left the studio to work further on the album and "get our heads into the right creative space". Lee also indicated that record label Wind-up Records was going through "uncertain times", which would further delay the release of the album. The band reentered the studio in early April 2011 with Raskulinecz, who had produced music for
Alice in Chains,
Deftones, and
Foo Fighters, to continue work on the third album. Later, on July 11, 2011, it was reported by
MTV News that the release date for the album had been pushed back to October 11, and that the first single from the album will be "
What You Want". The band recorded the album at
Blackbird Studio in
Nashville. During an interview with
Kerrang!, Lee revealed that the new album's title will be
Evanescence. Different from
The Open Door, which was "all about me and my personal experiences",
Evanescence also includes Lee's musings on events that occurred to others in her life. "But really, whatever makes me feel the most, that's what's on the record, because that's what I need to get off my chest." The
Evanescence Tour began on August 17, 2011, with a show at
War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville. The band then performed at
Rock on the Range in Winnipeg on August 20, 2011, and at
Rock in Rio on October 2 alongside
Guns N' Roses and
System of a Down as well as Brazilian artists
Pitty and
Detonautas Roque Clube. After a series of events in North America, Evanescence traveled to Europe in November to play a sold-out tour in the UK, Germany and France, with support from
The Pretty Reckless and Australian band ME. Evanescence performed at the
Nobel Peace Prize Concert on December 11, 2011, where they played "Lost in Paradise" and "Bring Me to Life", before again touring in North America. In February 2012 they toured Japan with
Dazzle Vision, and in the same month performed in other southeast Asian countries. March 2012 saw the band tour Australia and New Zealand with
Blaqk Audio. Between April and July 2012, Evanescence toured in Europe and North America, with additional stops in Africa and the Middle East. Evanescence took part in the
Carnival of Madness Tour alongside
Halestorm,
Cavo,
New Medicine, and Chevelle. The tour began on July 31, 2012, in Springfield, Illinois, and ran through September 2, 2012, ending in Buffalo. The
Evanescence Tour resumed in October 2012 with stops in South America, Costa Rica, and Panama. The tour wrapped with a series of shows in England, ending on November 9, 2012, in London's
Wembley Arena. In 2013, the band was featured in an
NME article titled "28 Nu-Metal Era Bands You Probably Forgot All About". In October 2013, Wind-up Records sold their back catalog of artists, including Evanescence and their master recordings, to Bicycle Music Company. The combined company
Concord Bicycle Music will market the catalog. On January 3, 2014, it was announced that Lee had filed a lawsuit against Wind-up Records, seeking $1.5 million in unpaid royalties owed to the band. The lawsuit was settled and Lee said she had to sign a
non-disclosure agreement that she could not say anything negative, "so that's the only way in any sense that I'm still bound". In March 2014, Lee announced via her Twitter account that she and Evanescence had been released from their record label contract and were independent artists.
2015–2018: Return and Synthesis in Los Angeles On April 27, 2015, it was announced that the band would perform at Japan's
Ozzfest on November 21, 2015, as the second headline act. On August 7, 2015, Lee announced that long-time guitarist Terry Balsamo had departed the band. His position was filled by German guitarist
Jen Majura, who was recommended by
Testament's
Alex Skolnick. In an October 2015 interview, Lee stated that she was focusing on solo projects so there were no current plans for new Evanescence music yet, but the band would continue to tour through 2016. "It feels really good to have a lot of different things going on at once in the sense that I feel like I'm not just flexing one muscle", she said. The band made their return to the stage in November 2015, playing three US shows and performing at
Ozzfest in Tokyo, Japan, marking their first live performances since their hiatus. In February 2016, Lee said the band was working on the six-LP
vinyl box set titled
The Ultimate Collection, which includes all three studio albums, the previously unreleased 2000 demo CD
Origin, the rarities compilation album
Lost Whispers, a studio version of the tour intro "Lost Whispers", a studio recording of the song "Even In Death", alongside a 52-page casebound book with art, handwritten lyrics, photos and rarities. The box set was released in February 2017, and the compilation album
Lost Whispers was made available for streaming and downloading on Spotify, iTunes, and
Anghami. It contains the re-recorded "Even in Death", previously released B-sides, the four deluxe edition bonus tracks to
Evanescence, and the new song "Lost Whispers". In the fall of 2016, the band toured select cities in the US, choosing alternative rock band
Veridia as their opener. During this tour, the band played a new song titled "Take Cover", an outtake from the scrapped 2010 sessions for their self-titled album. In an October 2016 interview with
Loudwire, Lee confirmed that "there is Evanescence in the future", adding that she wants to take things step by step. She said in another interview that the band was not making a new album yet but working on a project that was "not exactly the most traditional thing", something that would take fans on a "different path that we wanna try". in
Los Angeles on October 15, 2017, as part of their
Synthesis tour In a March 2017 interview with
AOL Build, Lee spoke about her solo single, "
Speak to Me" and "a new album" in the works by Evanescence, stating, "We're working on something. [...] It's not just a straightforward 'next Evanescence album'". In a March 23 interview with
Metal Hammer, Lee stated that "It's something unique, something complex, something a little bit beyond that – and it's definitely new territory for all of us." The album was intended for release later in 2017. In a Facebook post, Lee revealed that the new album is titled
Synthesis. It is an orchestral and electronica piece, with selected songs from the band's previous albums rebuilt into classical arrangements reminiscent of a soundtrack, Lee said.
Synthesis contains two new original songs: "Hi-Lo" featuring violinist
Lindsey Stirling, and "Imperfection". The first recording session for
Synthesis took place on May 23, 2017, and a remake of "Bring Me To Life" was released as a single on August 18. On August 15, the band announced that recording
Synthesis was in its final stages. Evanescence toured with a full orchestra in late 2017 in support of the album, and tickets were sold starting on August 18. The band later toured across the US, Australia and Europe. Each ticket purchased came with a digital copy of
Synthesis after its release. On September 14, 2017, the single "Imperfection" was officially released. In March 2018, Evanescence announced that Lindsey Stirling would be joining the second North American leg as part of Evanescence's
Synthesis Tour. While their focus would remain on touring, Lee stated during a July 2018 interview on
WRIF that the band would begin working on their next studio album.
2019–2023: The Bitter Truth On February 4, 2019, the band released dates and locations for a spring/summer 2019 US concert tour. In May 2019, former guitarist Terry Balsamo performed with the band again at a live show for the song "
Sweet Sacrifice". On May 11, 2019, Lee was quoted by
Blabbermouth on plans for Evanescence to release a new studio album in 2020. In a November 21, 2019,
Reddit AMA, Lee said of the album, "It's dark and heavy. Its also got moments of weird and sparse. Little bit of everything. Definitely some
Open Door vibes but not the same." On September 17, 2019, Evanescence and symphonic metal band
Within Temptation announced a seven-city joint European tour titled
Worlds Collide originally scheduled for April 2020. However, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed for September 2020. It was then pushed back a second time to take place in September 2021. The tour had to be rescheduled a third time, with March 2022 set as the start date. The last postponement was announced in February 2022, with the tour scheduled for November and December 2022. On September 5, 2019,
Xbox released a launch trailer for the video game
Gears 5 that included a version of Lee's cover of
Fleetwood Mac's "
The Chain". which features backing vocals by the other members of the band. The cover hit number one on the
Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales chart. in
Worcester, Massachusetts, on January 20, 2022 At the end of January 2020, the band entered the studio with
Nick Raskulinecz, who produced their
2011 self-titled album, to work on three "heavy" songs. They would originally record only two songs with him, but ended up recording four. They planned to work piecemeal with the recording process, finishing a few songs with a producer and then working on a few other songs with another producer, The second single, "
The Game Is Over", was released on July 1. "
Use My Voice", the album's third single, was released on August 14. It features backing vocals from
Lzzy Hale,
Lindsey Stirling,
Taylor Momsen,
Deena Jakoub, and
Sharon den Adel, and was used in a
HeadCount campaign to encourage Americans to vote in the
United States presidential election. On December 4, 2020, it was announced that the album would be released on March 26, 2021, and contain 12 tracks, including
Evanescence outtake "Take Cover". Along with the album's pre-order, the fourth single, "Yeah Right", was released as an instant grab. On March 5, 2021, the band released the fifth single, "Better Without You". The song touches upon Lee's struggle in the music industry. A
Kerrang! cover story stated that Lee considers
The Bitter Truth their fourth album, not 2017's
Synthesis, More dates were added in September 2021. In December 2021, the last five shows were rescheduled due to COVID-19 cases within the band's touring camp, with the tour completed in January 2022. Evanescence was voted by
Revolver readers one of the top five live bands of 2021, with
Revolver stating that
The Bitter Truth "wasn't just a return for Evanescence — it was a rebirth." In February 2022, "Bring Me to Life"'s music video surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube. In May 2022, the band announced that it parted ways with guitarist Jen Majura, and longtime bassist Tim McCord would return to his natural guitar while Emma Anzai of
Sick Puppies would join as their new bassist. On July 15, 2022, Evanescence headlined the Rock Fest festival. Evanescence and Korn co-headlined an 18-dates US summer tour from August 16 to September 16, 2022. The band also played
Rocklahoma festival in early September, and the
Aftershock Festival in
Sacramento, California the following month. After four rescheduled attempts since 2019, Evanescence's co-headlining Worlds Collide European tour with Within Temptation began on November 9, 2022, running until December 8, 2022. In May, the band performed at the inaugural Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, and
Welcome to Rockville festival in Florida. The following month, they traveled to Europe to play the German festivals
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park,
Download Festival's 20th anniversary in England, where they played to what was deemed the biggest crowd ever for the second stage and their performance was listed by
Metal Hammer as one of the 20 greatest Download festival sets ever, and a solo show in Poland and France. They then performed at Japan's
Summer Sonic Festival on August 19–20, and toured Australia from August 24 to September 2. The band returned to the US to play Blue Ridge Rock Festival on September 7, The band played their biggest solo show ever at the
Allianz Parque stadium in
São Paulo, Brazil.
2024–present: Sanctuary In September 2024, the band revealed that they would be entering the studio to record new music for their sixth studio album in November 2024. On March 27, 2025, they released the song "
Afterlife" for the
Netflix anime
Devil May Cry. On May 9, Lee teamed up with singer
Halsey for a duet on "
Hand That Feeds", in promotion for the 2025
John Wick spinoff film
Ballerina. Additionally, the band released "Fight Like a Girl" featuring American singer
K. Flay, which features in the end credits of the film. In December 2025, Evanescence announced a headlining world tour set to begin in June 2026, featuring
Spiritbox,
Poppy,
Nova Twins, and
K. Flay as support acts across select dates. This follows Lee's collaboration with Spiritbox vocalist
Courtney LaPlante and Poppy on "
End of You" in September 2025. On April 10, 2026, the lead single to the band's upcoming sixth album was released, titled "
Who Will You Follow". Along with the release came the unveiling of the album's title
Sanctuary, as well as the album artwork and release date of June 5. ==Artistry==