Amy Lee

Amy Lee (Amy Lynn Hartzler) is the singer/songwriter and co-founder of the American rock band Evanescence. She was born on December 13, 1981 to John Lee, a DJ and a TV spokesperson, and Sara Cargill. She has one brother and two sisters, as well as a younger sister, Bonnie, who died in 1987 at the age of 3.http://www.nndb.com/people/255/000030165/

While her family moved around a lot, Lee took classical piano lessons for several years, until the family settled down in Little Rock, Arkansas. There she met guitarist and co-founder of Evanescence Ben Moody. The two began writing songs together and eventually formed a band.http://www.mtv.com/bands/e/evanescence/news_feature_040227/

Amy Lee and Ben Moody immediately began writing and playing music together, and within a month they were playing gigs at local coffee shops and book stores. They independently produced two EPs, Evanescence EP and Sound Asleep EP. In 2000, they got a deal with Big-Wig Enterprises and released a longer EP, Origin".http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1341624/bio

Origin" was such a success that Evanescence signed with Wind-Up Records, and released their debut full-length album: Fallen in 2003. It was so well received that Evanescence was nominated for five Grammy Awards, with two wins including Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for the single Bring Me To Life.http://www.cbs.com/specials/46grammys/nominees.shtml

Later that year, Ben Moody packed up and left Evanescence during a tour in Europe.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480132/20031103/evanescence.jhtml No public reason was given for the split, but Lee stated that the band was unhappy and it was for the best. Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo took over for Moody as songwriter and guitar player.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480465/20031117/evanescence.jhtml

In 2006, Evanescence released their second full-length album, The Open Door. The album soared to #1 on the Billboard charts within the first week, initially selling 447,000 copies in the first seven days of its release. It was certified as platinum within the first month out, and sparked five singles along with two nationwide tours.http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=61815

Amy Lee has been part of several musical projects outside Evanescence. Most famously, she performed the re-recording of the single Broken by Seether. In 2000, she also recorded two songs with David Hodges: Breathe and Fall Into You.http://www.davidhodges.info/lyrics.shtml Lee also sang rendition of Sally's Song for the Disney album Nightmare Revisited. This album featured covers and recordings of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas.http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/genre/e3i29faacc3d1f770ee6a48c4fd72748b45