Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp in Arkansas, where Moody heard Lee playing "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf on the piano.
After discovering a shared love of music, they began to write songs together. Their first songs were "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me," written by Lee, and "Understanding" and "My Immortal", written by Moody. Each song was altered lyrically and musically by the other artist allowing both of them to receive equal credit.
Though the two were unable to play live shows due to an inability to recruit other musicians or afford professional assistance, two of Lee and Moody's songs found playtime on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a show. The band eventually appeared live, and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After trying out several band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, meaning "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, meaning "to disappear"). Lee has stated she loves the name because it is mysterious and dark, and puts a picture in the listeners' mind.
Early work and Christian controversy
Their first full-length demo CD, Origin (released in 2000), is relatively unknown. The band also released two Extended Plays (EP's). First, the self-titled Evanescence EP (1998) of which about 100 copies were made, and second the Sound Asleep EP, also known as the Whisper EP (1999), limited to 50 copies.
Origin and the EPs contain demo versions of some of the songs on their debut album Fallen. In fact, the recording of "My Immortal" found on Fallen can also be found on Origin, minus a handful of additional string accompaniments. Only 2500 copies of this record were ever made, limiting its availability to the handful lucky enough to obtain one in the early years, or to those who are willing to pay the hundreds of dollars the discs now fetch. In response, Lee and Moody encouraged fans to download the band's older songs from the Internet during an interview.
Originally considered by many to be part of the Christian rock scene, and for a short time promoted in Christian stores, the band eventually made it clear that they did not want to be considered as part of the Christian genre. Shortly thereafter, Wind-Up Records Chairman Alan Meltzer issued a press release asking for the album to be removed from Christian retail outlets.
During a 2003 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ben Moody stated, "We're actually high on the Christian charts, and I'm like, What the f--k are we even doing there?" This went against earlier sentiments by Moody that "We hope to express in our music that Christianity is not a rigid list of rules to follow..." and also "The message we as a band want to convey more than anything is simple—God is Love." This has led to criticism of the band within the Christian community, even moreso given that the band themselves approved of the plan to distribute Fallen to the Christian market. Terry Hemmings, CEO of Christian music distributor Provident, expressed puzzlement at the band's about-face, saying "They clearly understood the album would be sold in these [Christian music] channels." Ex-vocalist and keyboardist David Hodges eventually left the band over the controversy, with other members stating that he had been pulling them in more of a Christian direction than Lee and Moody were comfortable with.
Fallen and Ben's Departure
Filling out the band's line-up in late 2002/early 2003 would be Amy Lee and Ben Moody's friends, John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd, all of whom had helped work on some of Evanescence's earlier songs.
After Evanescence signed on with their first major label, "Wind-Up Records", the band was looking to do some promotional work for the album when they were then approached by the video game company Nintendo. The company wanted to know if they would like to participate in the "Nintendo Fusion Tour," an event where 6 bands toured the United States so that Nintendo fans could try out new systems and games while listening to new bands. Evanescence accepted the offer and became the headlining band for 2003's Fusion Tour.
Their first major album, Fallen, has been certified 6x Platinum, spent 43 weeks in the Billboard Top 10 and has sold over 14 million copies worldwide. As of April 2005 Fallen is one of only eight albums in the history of the chart to spend a full year (52 weeks) in the Billboard Top 50. In total, Fallen was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard top 200, with 6.6 million copies sold in the United States.
Evanescence's major label debut single "Bring Me to Life", which features guest vocals from Paul McCoy of 12 Stones, was a global hit for the band and reached #5 on the American Billboard Hot 100 and reached #1 in Latin America's top 100 of that year. It also provided Evanescence with their first (and so far only) UK #1, where it stayed for four weeks from June-July 2003. It was also the official theme for WWE No Way Out. The equally popular "My Immortal" peaked at #7 in the U.S. and UK charts. Their inclusion in the soundtrack for the action movie Daredevil helped propel both songs into widespread popularity and firmly cemented Evanescence within the music scene. "Bring Me to Life" garnered recognition for the band at the Grammy Awards of 2004, where the band was given the Best Hard Rock Performance award. At the same time, Evanescence was awarded Best New Artist.
The two other singles off Fallen include "Going Under" (#5 US Modern Rock Tracks, #8 UK Charts) and "Everybody's Fool" (#36 US Modern Rock Tracks, #23 UK Charts), both of which include a music video.
On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band abruptly in the middle of a European tour. The reasons for his departure were reportedly "creative differences." In an interview several months later, Amy Lee said: "...we'd gotten to a point that if something didn't change, we wouldn't have been able to make a second record."
Since then, Lee has said it was almost a relief that he left because of tensions created within the band. Terry Balsamo from Cold joined the band, replacing Moody
Anywhere but Home
Anywhere But Home Released in 2004, Evanescence's new lineup released a DVD/CD compilation entitled Anywhere but Home. The DVD is their live-from-Paris show with several behind-the-scenes features, including shots of the band backstage, signing autographs, and warming up. The CD included contains a song entitled "Missing" which was previously unreleased and reached #1 in Spain. Also on the CD are the songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack) and "Farther Away". They also included their cover of Korn's "Thoughless" which they have played at several live shows.
The Open Door
Evanescence's second album, titled The Open Door, was released in Canada and the United States on October 3, 2006 in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2006 and in Australia on September 30, 2006 and features 13 tracks. The album sold 447,000 copies in the United States in its first week of sales and earned their first #1 ranking on the Billboard 200 album chart, becoming the 700th #1 debut in Billboard's history.
The album progressed slowly for a number of reasons, but perhaps chiefly because of Amy Lee's desire to allow the creative process to fully take its course and not rush production. Besides that, other distractions have included other band members' side projects, health problems concerning guitarist Terry Balsamo (who had a stroke) and the controversy revolving around the dismissal behaviour of their former manager. Lee stated on Evboard that Evanescence's new album would be wrapping up in March 2006. But the release was pushed to October 3, 2006, allegedly because "Wind-Up Records (the band's current record label) wanted to make a few changes to the upcoming single "Call Me When You're Sober", which hit modern rock and alternative rock radio on August 7, 2006. 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 Music Store on August 15, 2006, with Call Me When You're Sober available to those who pre-order and as a single as well.
Amy Lee confirmed that she wrote a song for the 2005 film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe released by Disney, but it was rejected due to its dark sound. Lee, however, said it was just "more great stuff for the album".
William Boyd's Departure and Replacement
On July 14, 2006, it was confirmed by a spokesperson for the bands label that bassist will Boyd had left the band. The reasons for his departure were "not wanting to do another big tour" and "to be close to his family." It was the band's frontwoman that broke the news to the fans in a post on an now unofficial Evanescence site, EvBoard.com.
In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Amy Lee announced that Tim McCord, former Revolution Smile guitarist, would be switching instruments and playing bass for the band.