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Amy Lee

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For the saxophone player with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, see Amy Lee (saxophonist).
Amy Lee

Amy Lynn Lee (born December 14 1981 in Riverside, California) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a founding member and lead singer of the Grammy Award winning rock band Evanescence. Her influences range from classical musicians such as Mozart to modern artists like Björk, Tori Amos, Danny Elfman[1] and Plumb.[2]

Biography

Early life

Amy was born to parents John Lee, a disc jockey and TV personality, and Sara Cargill. She has one brother, Robby, and two sisters, Carrie and Lori. Lee had a third sister, who died in 1987 at the age of three from drowning in the bathtub.[3] Lee took classical piano lessons for nine years. Her family moved to many places, including Florida and Illinois,[4] but finally settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Evanescence started. She graduated from Pulaski Academy in 2000 and also briefly attended Middle Tennessee State University.

Evanescence

Founding

She founded the band with Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp when Lee was playing Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)" on the piano.[5] Within a month, the pair were playing acoustic sets at Arkansas book stores and coffee houses[6] before recording two EPs, Evanescence EP (in 1998) and then the Sound Asleep EP (in 1999). Another song, "You", was written by Amy Lee, but was never intended to be released. Rumors, though unsubstantiated, circulated that when "You" was leaked, she asked people to stop distributing the song and its lyrics.[7] Many, but not all, lyrics websites took down their content for "You". In 2000, Evanescence recorded the longer EP Origin. This demo contains three songs which were used on the debut album Fallen and was written by Lee and Moody: "Whisper", "Imaginary", and "My Immortal". Whereas "Whisper" and "Imaginary" underwent further modifications before being included on Fallen,[citation needed] "My Immortal" is virtually identical. A later "band version" of "My Immortal" was made available for download for those who had bought an official version of Fallen through their official web site, but required that a CD checker program also be downloaded for verification before it would play.[citation needed] The "band version" was included on later versions of Fallen, notably the Brazilian and Argentine Editions.

Departure of Ben Moody

On October 22, 2003, guitarist Ben Moody left the band stating the reasons for his departure were "creative differences." In an interview several months later, Amy said: "We'd gotten to a point that if something didn't change, we wouldn't have been able to make a second record." She also said "We're finally a real band, not just Ben and I and a few others thrown together."[6] Ex-Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo replaced Moody in the band, both on guitar and as Lee's writing partner.

Lawsuit

On December 1, 2005, former Evanescence manager Dennis Rider filed a lawsuit against Lee for breach of contract. The suit claims Rider was prematurely and unjustly terminated from his position as manager of Evanescence.

In return, Lee filed a counter-suit against Rider for "breach of fiduciary duty, sexual assault and battery, professional negligence, currency conversion, and other charges". The suit also claims Rider "neglected Lee's career and business and has focused his efforts on having extramarital affairs, hiding them from his wife, becoming intoxicated during business meetings, physically abusing women and boasting about it, making repeated unwelcome sexual advances toward Lee, receiving fees in excess of what was provided for in his management agreement and using Lee's corporate credit card to purchase gifts for his mistress."

Rider's attorney, Bert Deixler, claimed in a statement that Rider had fully performed all of the duties and obligations owed by the firm under the management agreement, and that he had always conducted himself by the highest professional standards.[8]

The Open Door

Main article: The Open Door

Lee was working on the opening theme of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and writing additional music for the film, but the music was rejected for being "too dark and epic". However, Lee has been quoted as saying that the rejected material is "just more great stuff for the new album".[9]

There was some speculation that the song had been cut and used in several tracks though Lee has stated that this is not true.[10] Lee has stated that the song was used to segue into the last track on the album, "Good Enough".[10]

Engagement

Lee revealed on January 9 2007 during MuchMusic's Live @ Much that she was engaged the previous night, January 8. She later confirmed on EvThreads.com that she was asked the question by "Josh", a 28-year-old therapist who was a long-time friend and recent beau. [11][12]

Amy Lee at the 2003 Billboard Awards, photo by Chris Walter of Photofeatures

Image

Lee has a recognizable neo-goth style, marked by her occasional use of gothic make-up and taste for Victorian-styled clothing.[citation needed] She also designs many of her own clothes, including those worn in the music video for Going Under and the dress she wore at the 2004 Grammy awards. After she designed it she chose Japanese designer H. Naoto to make it for her,[13] although she does sometimes make her own clothes. In concerts, she often wears a corset and fishnets, and used to have a notable piercing on her left eyebrow which is visible on the cover of Fallen.

Many fans praise Lee for her refusal to emulate other celebrities by using sex appeal in her music.[citation needed][clarification needed] She has stated on a number of occasions that she would never flash her breasts or engage in other publicity stunts that would draw attention to herself. In fact, in the music video for "Everybody's Fool," she aimed to mock such artists by suggesting that celebrities who use sex to appeal to an audience are, in fact, merely peddling "lies" (the unifying theme of the music video).[14]

In 2006 Blender Magazine listed her as one of the hottest women in rock along side such singers as Joan Jett, Courtney Love, and Liz Phair.[15]

Other projects

In 2000, Lee sang guest vocals on two of former Evanescence keyboardist David Hodges' songs: "Breathe" (The Summit Church: Summit Worship) and the unreleased "Fall Into You".[16] She also performed backup vocals on "Missing You", a song on Big Dismal's 2003 debut album Believe. Lee later performed a duet with her ex-boyfriend Shaun Morgan on the track "Broken" for Seether's 2004 album Disclaimer II. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2004 film The Punisher.

2006 has seen Lee become the American Chairperson for Out of the Shadows, an international foundation with the goal of educating others about epilepsy. Lee's younger brother was previously diagnosed with this condition.[17] Most recently, the singer made a brief guest appearance in the music video for Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down".[18]

On Korn's upcoming release MTV Unplugged: Korn, Lee was featured in the song "Freak on a Leash". The song is also the first single from the album and was released to television and radio in early February 2007.

Discography

See main article Evanescence Discography.

References

  1. ^ "Interview with Evanescence singer Amy Lee". gURL.com. iVillage Inc. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  2. ^ Farias, Andree (2006-04-10). "Pre-Evanescence". Christianity Today. Christianity Today International. Retrieved 2006-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Odell, Michael (2004). "Survivor!". Blender magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Amy's bio". OutoftheShadows.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  5. ^ D'Angelo, Joe (2004-02-27). "Evanescence - The Split". MTV News. Retrieved 2006-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Bakker, Tiffany (2004-01-09). "Moody blues". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2006-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Notification and reason for removal of lyrics for the song "You"". GetLyrics.com. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
  8. ^ Harris, Chris (2005-12-08). "Evanescence's Amy Lee Sues Former Manager, Alleges Financial And Sexual Misconduct". MTV News via VH1.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Lee, Amy (2005-12-02). "EvBoard - A Bunch Of Stuff!!!". EvBoard.com. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b "Amy Lee post regarding Narnia song". EvBoard.com.
  11. ^ Lee, Amy (2007-01-09). "Amy's Engaged!: *clink clink* *ahem...*". EvThreads.com. Retrieved 2007-01-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Eells, Josh (2006). "Amy Lee: Back in Black". Blender. Retrieved 2007-01-09. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Amy Lee - Instant Fashion Profile". MTV News. 2004. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  14. ^ Moss, Corey (2004-06-10). "Evanescence's Amy Lee Hopes To Get Into Film, Rages Against Cheesy Female Idols". MTV News via VH1.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Errico, Mike (December 2006). "Hottest Women of…Rock!". Blender.com. Blender. Retrieved 2007-02-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Discography / Lyrics / Audio Clips". DavidHodges.info. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  17. ^ "Why Epilepsy?". OutoftheShadows.com. Retrieved 2006-11-07.
  18. ^ Kaufman, Gil (2006-11-17). "Timberlake's Brainstorm: Johnny Cash Video With Kanye, Jigga, Depp, Others". MTV News via VH1.com. Retrieved 2006-11-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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