Amy reads

Amy Lynn Hartzler (born Amy Lynn Lee; Riverside, California, December 13, 1981), better known as Amy Lee, is an American singer, classically trained pianist, designer, and songwriter. She is the co-founder and vocalist of the American alternative metal band Evanescence. Her influences range from classical music like Mozart to modern artists like Björk, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Tori Amos and Plumb. In 2006 she was listed as #69 among the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time by the magazine Hit Parade , and, in the same year, his band was chosen as the best metal of 2006 by Rolling Stone .

Early Years

She was born on December 13, 1981 in Riverside, California in the United States. She is the daughter of John Lee, a DJ and TV personality, and Sara Cargill. Amy's family is all Christian and she has a brother, Robbie, and two sisters, Carrie and Lori. Amy Lee had a younger sister who died in 1987 at the age of 3 of an unidentified illness. It was reported that the songs "Even in death" from the album Origin and "Hello" from the album Fallen were written in honor of her late sister, as was the song "Like You" from The Open Door. Amy Lee took piano lessons for nine years. Her family moved to various places, including Florida and Illinois, eventually settling in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Evanescence was born. She attended Middle Tennessee State University to study music theory and composition, then dropped out to focus on Evanescence.

In an interview with Lee, he says the first songs he remembers writing were called "Eternity of the Remorse" and "A Single Tear." The first was written when she was eleven years old and wanted to be a classical composer, and the second was for a session when she was in the eighth grade.

Evanescence

Foundation

Lee co-founded the band with then-guitarist Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp after Moody heard Lee play Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano. Within a month, the two began performing acoustically in bookstores and coffee shops, eventually recording two EPs, Evanescence EP (1998) and Sound Asleep EP (1999), selling at various local places. In 2000, Evanescence recorded the EP Origin. This demo contains 3 songs from their debut album Fallen and they were written by Lee and Moody: «Whisper», «Imaginary» and «My Immortal». The first two were modified before being included in Fallen, while the last one is pretty much the same. A later version of "My Immortal" was made available for download for those who had purchased an official version of Fallen through their website, but the program required a patch CD as well. was downloaded for verification.

On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band citing "creative differences". In an interview months later, Amy said: "...We had reached a point where if something didn't change, we wouldn't have been able to make a second record." He also said, "We're finally a real band, not just me and Ben [Moody] and a few others put together." Former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo replaced Moody in the band, both on guitar and writing alongside Lee..

Demand

Amy Lee 2007.

On December 1, 2005, former Evanescence manager Dennis Rider filed a $10 million lawsuit against Lee for breach of contract. Rider's lawsuit alleged that he was prematurely and unfairly fired from his position as Evanescence's manager, just one recorded album on a three-album contract to record.

In response, Lee counterclaimed Rider for "breach of fiduciary duty, sexual assault and battery, professional negligence, and currency conversion, among other claims." The lawsuit also alleged that Rider "neglected Lee's music and business career and concentrated his efforts on extramarital affairs, hiding them from his wife, drunkenness during business meetings, physically abusing women and bragging about it, making repeated sexual advances towards the vocalist, receiving rates above what was provided for in their management agreement and the use of Lee's corporate credit card to buy gifts for her lover".

Rider's lawyer, Bert Deixler, said in a statement that since Rider became manager of the group in 2002, he had duly fulfilled all duties and obligations incurred by the company, and that he had always been guided by the highest professional standards."

Solo career

During an interview with Spin magazine in October 2008, Lee noted that he was writing new songs. Citing influences from folk music and Celtic music, she said her current writing makes her feel like she is going back to her "older roots." She did not give a release date, but did say her reason for this new path: "I have to show that I am more than a horse that only knows how to do a trick."

Lee stated during an interview with The Gauntlet in October 2008 that he didn't know if he was going to start a solo career, saying he was "at a point where I don't know what's going to happen." He noted that Evanescence was still as a band, but found it touring in a monotony. He reiterated that he would continue to write songs, although he did not yet know what the purpose would be.The band's third album (self-titled) was released on October 11, 2011.

On August 6, 2014 Amy Lee announces her new and first solo album Aftermath which is the soundtrack to the movie War Story. The album was released on August 25 of the same year.

On September 30, 2016, Amy releases the children's music album "Dream Too Much", which draws a lot of attention from critics and fans as it represents a great turn in her career. Lee explains that the record is a project dedicated to her son Jack Lion in which her family was involved.

Image

Read with Evanescence at a concert in 2011

Lee has a recognizable style, marked by her occasional use of gothic makeup and penchant for Victorian-style clothing. She also designs her own clothing, including those used in the "Going Under" music video, the dress she wore to the 2004 Grammy Awards, and the dress worn for the cover of The Open Door. After designing them, she chose Japanese designer h.NAOTO to do it for her.At concerts, she wears a corset and fishnet stockings, as well as long skirts and knee-high boots. She at one point had a piercing in her left eyebrow, as visible on the Fallen cover. Many fans praise Lee's refusal to imitate other celebrities who use "sex appeal" in her music.

Other projects

In 2000, Lee was a guest vocalist on two of ex-Evanescence keyboardist David Hodges' songs: "Breathe" (The Summit Church: Summit Worship) and the previously unreleased "Fall Into You". He also provided backing vocals to "Missing You", a song by Big Desmal from their debut album Believe, and sang backing vocals on two songs with the supergroup The Damning Well, although his voice was withdrawn from final version due to label issues. She collaborated with her boyfriend at the time Shaun Morgan on the song "Broken" from Seether's album Disclaimer II. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Punisher.

In 2004, Lee claimed to be working on music for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but the music was rejected by the studio as "too dark." ». However, the producers of Narnia stated that Lee was never asked if he wanted to compose all of the music for the film, it was written by Harry Gregson-Williams, and "no Evanescence music is planned for the soundtrack". While there was some speculation that one of the songs had supposedly been cut and used on various tracks on The Open Door, Lee stated that this was not true except for that part of the one used for the last track on the song. album, "Good Enough".

Lee became the US President of Out of the Shadows in 2006. The organization is an international foundation with the goal of providing epilepsy education. Lee's younger brother, Robby, was diagnosed with this condition. Lee also made a brief appearance in Johnny Cash's music video "God's Gonna Cut You Down" in late 2006. As each celebrity appears on the filming was allowed to choose what he would be doing for the video, Lee chose to appear laying flowers on a grave. The scene was recorded at Trinity Church in Manhattan, in which she was wearing a black velvet coat that previously belonged to Tim Burton.

In February 2007, MTV released MTV Unplugged: Korn to TV and radio, where Lee featured on the song "Freak on a Leash". The song was released as the album's first single. In November 2007, VH1 produced a Behind the Music-style mockumentary titled Rock Band Cometh: The Rock Band Band Story to promote the Rock Band video game. Lee is one of the celebrities who make a cameo on the show.

In June 2008, the National Music Publishers’ Association presented Lee with the 2008 Songwriter Icon Award, which "recognizes outstanding songwriters for personal achievement".

In September 2008, Nightmare Revisited was released for Walt Disney Records, in which Lee sang a version of "Sally's Song". This album contains new material and covers of songs from the original The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. Lee performed live performances of "Sally's Song" during the Nightmare Before Christmas premiere in Hollywood, California on October 17 and for October 13. October on The Tonight Show.

2011-2012: Evanescence Tour

In August 2011, Evanescence began promoting the first single from their self-titled album, "What You Want", on various shows, such as the Jay Leno Show or MTV News among others. On August 20, 2011, Evanescence performed at the MG Rock Festival in Canada, then in September the American tour began in cities like Nashville (Tennessee) and in the state of Texas. Later, they began the Evanescence Tour where they visited Rock In Rio, in Brazil; as well as various American cities such as Los Angeles and countries such as Puerto Rico or Greece, among others. They then visited Asia in late 2011 and early 2012, and then made their way to Europe and the Middle East in the remainder of 2012. He has also been on the Carnival Of Madness tour which has lasted since mid July through September 2, 2012.

Personal life

Between 2003 and 2005, she was in a romantic relationship with Seether lead singer Shaun Morgan, for whom she wrote the song "Call Me When You're Sober". On January 18, 2014, she revealed on her Twitter that she was expecting a child. On July 28, 2014, also through social networks, she announced the birth of her firstborn, Jack Lion Hartzler, the result of her relationship with Josh Hartzler.

Discography

Evanescence

• 1998 - Evanescence EP
• 1999 - Sound Asleep EP
• 2000 - Origin
• 2003 - Mystary EP
• 2003 - Fallen
• 2004 - Anywhere but Home
• 2006 - The Open Door
• 2011 - Evanescence
• 2016 - Lost Whispers (The Ultimate Collection)
• 2017 - Synthesis
• 2021 - The Bitter Truth

As soloist

• 2014 - Aftermath
• 2016 - Recover, Vol. 1
• 2016 - Dream Too Much

Collaborations and related

• 2000 - "Breathe" - David Hodges and Amy Lee - The Summit Church: Summit Worship
• 2000 - «Fall Into You» - David Hodges and Amy Lee - Not launched
• 2003 - "Missing You" - Big Dismal and Amy Lee - Believe
• 2003 - "My Immortal" - "Bring Me To Life" Daredevil (2003) - Soundtracks
• 2004 - "Broken" - Seether and Amy Lee - Disclaimer II and soundtrack The Punisher
• 2007 - "Freak on a Leash" - Korn and Amy Lee - MTV Unplugged: Korn
• 2008 - “Sally’s Song” - Collaboration for Nightmare Revisited
• 2011 - «Halfway Down The Stairs» - Collaboration for The Muppets - The Green Album
• 2012 - "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Collaboration for Johnny Cash - Tribute Concert
• 2012 - "Break In" - Halestorm and Amy Lee - The Strange Case Of...
• 2019 - «Love Goes On and On» - Lindsey Stirling and Amy Lee - Artemis
• 2020 - «One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death» - Bring Me the Horizon and Amy Lee - Human Post: Survival Horror