Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody.[1][2] After recording two private EPs and a demo CD named Origin, with the help of Bigwig Enterprises in 2000, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 15 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards.[3] A year later, Evanescence released their first live album, Anywhere but Home, which sold more than one million copies worldwide. In 2006, the band released their second studio album, The Open Door, which sold more than five million copies.[4]
The line-up of the band has changed several times: co-founder Moody left in 2003 (mid-tour), bassist Will Boyd in 2006, followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray in 2007. The last two changes have led to a hiatus, with temporary band members contributing to tour performances. In June 2009, Amy Lee posted on the official Evanescence website that the band had been working on new material for a proposed 2010 album. Lee had announced in the beginning of January, 2010, that they are going into the studio next month to record their third album.
History
Formation and early years: 1995–2001
Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. The two met in 1994 at a youth camp in Little Rock, where Lee sat at a piano, and begun to play many songs by Mozart and Beethoven (having had 9 years of classical piano lessons). Moody then heard Lee playing "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf on the piano.[5] Their first songs together were "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me", both written by Lee, and "Understanding" and "My Immortal", both written by Moody. The songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal credit. Later songs include "Whisper" and "Imaginary", both appearing on 1998, 1999, and the 2000 EP, and then appearing on Fallen, 2003.
Lee wrote a song entitled "Listen To The Rain" for her school choir, which she was president of, at her graduation of 2000. The song was then recorded as a b-side for their third EP, "Origin", released in 2000.
Two of Lee and Moody's songs were played on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a concert. The band eventually appeared live, and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken (both Moody's band name ideas), Halo Machine and ForTheFallen (both Lee's band name ideas), they decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear").[6]
Fallen and Anywhere but Home: 2002–2005
The band's signature font was created when Fallen was in development. The label designers used slightly modified versions of each character to make the track titles look unique.[7]
In early 2003, the lineup was completed by Amy Lee and Ben Moody's friends, John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd, all of whom worked on Evanescence's earlier songs. Meanwhile, Evanescence signed on with their first major label, Wind-up Records, and began work on their first album, Fallen. While they were looking to promote Fallen, Evanescence accepted an offer from the video game company Nintendo to perform on the "Nintendo Fusion Tour" which they headlined in 2003.[8]
Fallen spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10;[9] was certified 7x Platinum in the United States;[10] and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide,[3] including 7 million in the U.S. The album was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard Top 200, and it was one of eight albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year on the Billboard Top 50.[11]
On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band during the European tour for Fallen, reportedly because of creative differences.[12] 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." This became a point of confusion, as Moody and Lee stated on the Fallen album liner notes that they were best friends.[13] Lee said it was almost a relief that Moody left because of tensions created within the band.[13] During an interview, Lee has said "I don't know I just think its exactly what I would've expected he's more about kind of the pop influence sort of thing and also you know about being commercial and I mean selling albums that's the part of him we often disagreed on; I wanted to do the more artistic weird thing and he'd wanna do the thing that people would want to hear..." She adds "So that's, a lot of the reason [why] its been so fun writing now is [that] we're not thinking about that. Its like what do we like, what's fun, like what do we want to do that's different."[14] Moody was replaced by Terry Balsamo from Cold.[15]
Evanescence's major label debut single "Bring Me to Life", featuring guest vocals from Paul McCoy of 12 Stones, was a global hit for the band and reached #5 on the American Billboard Hot 100.[16] It provided Evanescence with their first UK #1 single,[17] where it stayed for four weeks from June-July 2003. The song also became the official theme for WWE No Way Out 2003. The equally popular "My Immortal" peaked at #7 in the U.S. and UK charts,[16] and both songs were featured in the soundtrack for the action movie Daredevil. "Bring Me to Life" was recognized at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, where the band won the Best Hard Rock Performance and Best New Artist awards and were nominated for two others.[18] The two other singles off Fallen are "Going Under" (#5 U.S. Modern Rock Tracks,[16] #8 UK Charts) and "Everybody's Fool" (#36 U.S. Modern Rock Tracks,[16] #23 UK Charts); all were promoted by a music video.
Evanescence performing at the concert in Le Zénith, Paris, featured on Anywhere but Home
In 2004, Evanescence's new lineup released a DVD/CD compilation entitled Anywhere but Home. The DVD includes a concert in Paris, as well as behind-the-scenes features, including shots of the band backstage signing autographs and warming up. Also on the CD are the live songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack), "Farther Away", and the band's cover of Korn's "Thoughtless".
The Open Door: 2006–2008
A spokesperson for the band's label confirmed on July 14, 2006 that bassist Will Boyd had left the band for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family." Amy Lee states that "we completely understood Will's decision to leave. The rest of us are also sacrificing our time with our family, and people back at home who we miss." Lee originally broke the news to the fans in a post on an unofficial Evanescence site, EvBoard.com.[19] In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Lee announced that Tim McCord, former Revolution Smile guitarist, would switch instruments and play bass for the band.[20]
Evanescence performing at a concert in Brazil in 2007
The album progressed slowly for several reasons, including Amy Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production, other band members' side projects, guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke, and the loss of their former manager.[21] Although Lee stated on the fan forum Evboard that Evanescence's new album would be completed in March 2006,[22] the release was pushed back allegedly because "Wind-up Records...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 13-track album The Open Door was released in Canada and the United States on October 3, 2006;[9] the United Kingdom on October 2, 2006; and Australia on September 30, 2006.[23] 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, knocking The Killers off from #1, and becoming the 700th #1 album in Billboard since the chart became a weekly feature in 1956.[11][24] 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).[25][26] As part of their tour, Evanescence performed on April 15, 2007 on the Argentinan festival Quilmes Rock 07 along with Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver and other local bands.[27] They also co-headlined on the Family Values Tour 2007 along with Korn and other bands.[28][29] The group closed their European tour with a sell-out concert at the Amphi in Ra'anana, Israel, on June 26, 2007,[30] and finished the album tour on December 9, 2007.[31]
John LeCompt, former Evanescence guitarist
On May 4, 2007, John LeCompt announced that he had been fired from Evanescence, and also stated that drummer Rocky Gray had decided to quit.[32] Wind-up issued a press release on May 17, 2007, stating that two Dark New Day members, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, would be joining the band to replace LeCompt and Gray.[33] It was initially stated that Hunt and McLawhorn would tour with Evanescence until the end of the Family Values Tour in September 2007,[34] but both continued to play with the band through The Open Door tour.[31]
"New Album 2010" ; 2009–present
In a news posting to the Evanescence website during June 2009, Amy Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing new material for a new album proposed for release in 2010. She stated that the music would be an evolution of previous works and be "better, stronger, and more interesting".[4] 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 performance acted as a warm-up for their headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8.[35][36] On January 8, 2010, Amy Lee announced on Twitter that "We [Evanescence] are officially going into the studio to record our third album next month. I'm beyond excited and will keep you up to date along the way!"
In other media
Lee claimed that she wrote a song for the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but that it was rejected because of its dark sound. Lee went on to state that it was just "more great stuff [for The Open Door]".[37] Another song supposedly written for Narnia was the Mozart-inspired "Lacrymosa".[38] The producers of Narnia, however, refuted her claim, stating this information was "news to them" and that no Evanescence music had been planned for inclusion in the soundtrack.[39]
Rumours of the band breaking up surfaced[40] after the arrival of We Are The Fallen but Lee issued a statement saying that "there's some pretty weird stuff flying around right now" and that Evanescence is "working on new material that I'm extremely excited about". Lee adds "I don't see the point in making the same record twice, so I always want to challenge myself to make something better, stronger, and more interesting than before. That takes time, but it's worth the wait for me. Hopefully, it will be for the fans too. Look out for new music next year[2010]." Former band member and co-founder Ben Moody feels the statement "kind of validates my point. I don't really think she's at all threatened by us. She said, 'Don't worry, you'll have your music next year.' But people might want something to listen to before then. That's what we're here for." "There's not really an Evanescence now," Moody adds. "It's Amy Lee playing as Evanescence with a bunch of other guys hired to play our parts. "There's no reason we can't both exist in the world." He also says that "Musically, we're going in completely different directions" and he insists that the The Open Door (Evanescence's 2006 album) sounds nothing like his band We Are The Fallen. "And as far as fans go" Moody adds "you won't see us disappear for a year and a half or sometimes three years so we can write and record an album."[41] Lee has not responded to any of these comments.
Musical style
Critics vary in terming Evanescence a rock or metal band, but most identify them as some form of gothic metal: Publications such as The New York Times, Rough Guides, Rolling Stone and Blender have identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act,[2][42][43][44] while other sources such as NME, MusicMight, IGN and Popmatters have termed them gothic rock.[45][46][47][48] They have been compared to a variety of bands from differing genres, such as nu metal ensembles like P.O.D. and Linkin Park,[49][50] gothic metal groups like Lacuna Coil,[51] and symphonic metal acts like Nightwish and Within Temptation.[52] David Browne of Blender offers an elaborate description of the band's music as "goth Christian nü-metal with a twist of melancholic Enya."[53] Adrien Begrand of Popmatters describes Evanescence as utilising "nu-metal riffage".[48] Adrian Jackson of My Dying Bride stated that he feels Evanescence is doing something similar to his own gothic metal group, only in a more commercial direction.[54] Other genres and influences used to describe the band’s sound include alternative metal,[46][55] alternative rock,[46][47] hard rock,[46] post-grunge[56] and electronica.[45]. Itunes has classified them as Rock (Hard Rock, Metal), and Alternative (Grunge, Goth rock).
Evanescence was originally promoted in Christian stores. Later, the band made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock genre.[57] 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."[58] After many Christian stores began to remove the band's music from their shelves, Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer then issued a press release in April 2003 requesting formally that they do this.[59] In 2006, Amy Lee told Billboard that she had opposed being identified as a "Christian band" from the beginning.[60]
Band members
Main article: List of Evanescence band members
Current
* Amy Lee – lead vocals, piano, keyboards (1995–present)
* Terry Balsamo – lead guitars (2003–present)
* Tim McCord – bass (2006–present)
Former
* Ben Moody – lead guitars (1995–2003)
* David Hodges – keyboards, piano, drums, backing vocals (1999–2002)
* Rocky Gray – drums, percussion (2002–2007)
* John LeCompt – rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2002–2007)
* Will Boyd – bass (2003–2006)
Session and live musicians
* James Black – rhythm guitars (live, 2009)
* Francesco DiCosmo – bass (session, 2003)
* David Eggar – cello (session/live, 2006)
* Josh Freese – drums, percussion (session, 2003)
* Stephanie Pierce – background vocals (live, 1999)
* Will Hunt – drums (live, 2007 and 2009)
* Troy McLawhorn – guitar (live, 2007)
Discography
Main article: Evanescence discography
Studio albums
* Origin (2000; demo album)
* Fallen (2003)
* The Open Door (2006)
Live albums
* Anywhere but Home (2004)
The line-up of the band has changed several times: co-founder Moody left in 2003 (mid-tour), bassist Will Boyd in 2006, followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray in 2007. The last two changes have led to a hiatus, with temporary band members contributing to tour performances. In June 2009, Amy Lee posted on the official Evanescence website that the band had been working on new material for a proposed 2010 album. Lee had announced in the beginning of January, 2010, that they are going into the studio next month to record their third album.
History
Formation and early years: 1995–2001
Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. The two met in 1994 at a youth camp in Little Rock, where Lee sat at a piano, and begun to play many songs by Mozart and Beethoven (having had 9 years of classical piano lessons). Moody then heard Lee playing "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf on the piano.[5] Their first songs together were "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me", both written by Lee, and "Understanding" and "My Immortal", both written by Moody. The songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal credit. Later songs include "Whisper" and "Imaginary", both appearing on 1998, 1999, and the 2000 EP, and then appearing on Fallen, 2003.
Lee wrote a song entitled "Listen To The Rain" for her school choir, which she was president of, at her graduation of 2000. The song was then recorded as a b-side for their third EP, "Origin", released in 2000.
Two of Lee and Moody's songs were played on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a concert. The band eventually appeared live, and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken (both Moody's band name ideas), Halo Machine and ForTheFallen (both Lee's band name ideas), they decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear").[6]
Fallen and Anywhere but Home: 2002–2005
The band's signature font was created when Fallen was in development. The label designers used slightly modified versions of each character to make the track titles look unique.[7]
In early 2003, the lineup was completed by Amy Lee and Ben Moody's friends, John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd, all of whom worked on Evanescence's earlier songs. Meanwhile, Evanescence signed on with their first major label, Wind-up Records, and began work on their first album, Fallen. While they were looking to promote Fallen, Evanescence accepted an offer from the video game company Nintendo to perform on the "Nintendo Fusion Tour" which they headlined in 2003.[8]
Fallen spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10;[9] was certified 7x Platinum in the United States;[10] and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide,[3] including 7 million in the U.S. The album was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard Top 200, and it was one of eight albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year on the Billboard Top 50.[11]
On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band during the European tour for Fallen, reportedly because of creative differences.[12] 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." This became a point of confusion, as Moody and Lee stated on the Fallen album liner notes that they were best friends.[13] Lee said it was almost a relief that Moody left because of tensions created within the band.[13] During an interview, Lee has said "I don't know I just think its exactly what I would've expected he's more about kind of the pop influence sort of thing and also you know about being commercial and I mean selling albums that's the part of him we often disagreed on; I wanted to do the more artistic weird thing and he'd wanna do the thing that people would want to hear..." She adds "So that's, a lot of the reason [why] its been so fun writing now is [that] we're not thinking about that. Its like what do we like, what's fun, like what do we want to do that's different."[14] Moody was replaced by Terry Balsamo from Cold.[15]
Evanescence's major label debut single "Bring Me to Life", featuring guest vocals from Paul McCoy of 12 Stones, was a global hit for the band and reached #5 on the American Billboard Hot 100.[16] It provided Evanescence with their first UK #1 single,[17] where it stayed for four weeks from June-July 2003. The song also became the official theme for WWE No Way Out 2003. The equally popular "My Immortal" peaked at #7 in the U.S. and UK charts,[16] and both songs were featured in the soundtrack for the action movie Daredevil. "Bring Me to Life" was recognized at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, where the band won the Best Hard Rock Performance and Best New Artist awards and were nominated for two others.[18] The two other singles off Fallen are "Going Under" (#5 U.S. Modern Rock Tracks,[16] #8 UK Charts) and "Everybody's Fool" (#36 U.S. Modern Rock Tracks,[16] #23 UK Charts); all were promoted by a music video.
Evanescence performing at the concert in Le Zénith, Paris, featured on Anywhere but Home
In 2004, Evanescence's new lineup released a DVD/CD compilation entitled Anywhere but Home. The DVD includes a concert in Paris, as well as behind-the-scenes features, including shots of the band backstage signing autographs and warming up. Also on the CD are the live songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack), "Farther Away", and the band's cover of Korn's "Thoughtless".
The Open Door: 2006–2008
A spokesperson for the band's label confirmed on July 14, 2006 that bassist Will Boyd had left the band for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family." Amy Lee states that "we completely understood Will's decision to leave. The rest of us are also sacrificing our time with our family, and people back at home who we miss." Lee originally broke the news to the fans in a post on an unofficial Evanescence site, EvBoard.com.[19] In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Lee announced that Tim McCord, former Revolution Smile guitarist, would switch instruments and play bass for the band.[20]
Evanescence performing at a concert in Brazil in 2007
The album progressed slowly for several reasons, including Amy Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production, other band members' side projects, guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke, and the loss of their former manager.[21] Although Lee stated on the fan forum Evboard that Evanescence's new album would be completed in March 2006,[22] the release was pushed back allegedly because "Wind-up Records...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 13-track album The Open Door was released in Canada and the United States on October 3, 2006;[9] the United Kingdom on October 2, 2006; and Australia on September 30, 2006.[23] 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, knocking The Killers off from #1, and becoming the 700th #1 album in Billboard since the chart became a weekly feature in 1956.[11][24] 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).[25][26] As part of their tour, Evanescence performed on April 15, 2007 on the Argentinan festival Quilmes Rock 07 along with Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver and other local bands.[27] They also co-headlined on the Family Values Tour 2007 along with Korn and other bands.[28][29] The group closed their European tour with a sell-out concert at the Amphi in Ra'anana, Israel, on June 26, 2007,[30] and finished the album tour on December 9, 2007.[31]
John LeCompt, former Evanescence guitarist
On May 4, 2007, John LeCompt announced that he had been fired from Evanescence, and also stated that drummer Rocky Gray had decided to quit.[32] Wind-up issued a press release on May 17, 2007, stating that two Dark New Day members, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, would be joining the band to replace LeCompt and Gray.[33] It was initially stated that Hunt and McLawhorn would tour with Evanescence until the end of the Family Values Tour in September 2007,[34] but both continued to play with the band through The Open Door tour.[31]
"New Album 2010" ; 2009–present
In a news posting to the Evanescence website during June 2009, Amy Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing new material for a new album proposed for release in 2010. She stated that the music would be an evolution of previous works and be "better, stronger, and more interesting".[4] 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 performance acted as a warm-up for their headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8.[35][36] On January 8, 2010, Amy Lee announced on Twitter that "We [Evanescence] are officially going into the studio to record our third album next month. I'm beyond excited and will keep you up to date along the way!"
In other media
Lee claimed that she wrote a song for the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but that it was rejected because of its dark sound. Lee went on to state that it was just "more great stuff [for The Open Door]".[37] Another song supposedly written for Narnia was the Mozart-inspired "Lacrymosa".[38] The producers of Narnia, however, refuted her claim, stating this information was "news to them" and that no Evanescence music had been planned for inclusion in the soundtrack.[39]
Rumours of the band breaking up surfaced[40] after the arrival of We Are The Fallen but Lee issued a statement saying that "there's some pretty weird stuff flying around right now" and that Evanescence is "working on new material that I'm extremely excited about". Lee adds "I don't see the point in making the same record twice, so I always want to challenge myself to make something better, stronger, and more interesting than before. That takes time, but it's worth the wait for me. Hopefully, it will be for the fans too. Look out for new music next year[2010]." Former band member and co-founder Ben Moody feels the statement "kind of validates my point. I don't really think she's at all threatened by us. She said, 'Don't worry, you'll have your music next year.' But people might want something to listen to before then. That's what we're here for." "There's not really an Evanescence now," Moody adds. "It's Amy Lee playing as Evanescence with a bunch of other guys hired to play our parts. "There's no reason we can't both exist in the world." He also says that "Musically, we're going in completely different directions" and he insists that the The Open Door (Evanescence's 2006 album) sounds nothing like his band We Are The Fallen. "And as far as fans go" Moody adds "you won't see us disappear for a year and a half or sometimes three years so we can write and record an album."[41] Lee has not responded to any of these comments.
Musical style
Critics vary in terming Evanescence a rock or metal band, but most identify them as some form of gothic metal: Publications such as The New York Times, Rough Guides, Rolling Stone and Blender have identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act,[2][42][43][44] while other sources such as NME, MusicMight, IGN and Popmatters have termed them gothic rock.[45][46][47][48] They have been compared to a variety of bands from differing genres, such as nu metal ensembles like P.O.D. and Linkin Park,[49][50] gothic metal groups like Lacuna Coil,[51] and symphonic metal acts like Nightwish and Within Temptation.[52] David Browne of Blender offers an elaborate description of the band's music as "goth Christian nü-metal with a twist of melancholic Enya."[53] Adrien Begrand of Popmatters describes Evanescence as utilising "nu-metal riffage".[48] Adrian Jackson of My Dying Bride stated that he feels Evanescence is doing something similar to his own gothic metal group, only in a more commercial direction.[54] Other genres and influences used to describe the band’s sound include alternative metal,[46][55] alternative rock,[46][47] hard rock,[46] post-grunge[56] and electronica.[45]. Itunes has classified them as Rock (Hard Rock, Metal), and Alternative (Grunge, Goth rock).
Evanescence was originally promoted in Christian stores. Later, the band made it clear they did not want to be considered part of the Christian rock genre.[57] 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."[58] After many Christian stores began to remove the band's music from their shelves, Wind-up Records chairman Alan Meltzer then issued a press release in April 2003 requesting formally that they do this.[59] In 2006, Amy Lee told Billboard that she had opposed being identified as a "Christian band" from the beginning.[60]
Band members
Main article: List of Evanescence band members
Current
* Amy Lee – lead vocals, piano, keyboards (1995–present)
* Terry Balsamo – lead guitars (2003–present)
* Tim McCord – bass (2006–present)
Former
* Ben Moody – lead guitars (1995–2003)
* David Hodges – keyboards, piano, drums, backing vocals (1999–2002)
* Rocky Gray – drums, percussion (2002–2007)
* John LeCompt – rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2002–2007)
* Will Boyd – bass (2003–2006)
Session and live musicians
* James Black – rhythm guitars (live, 2009)
* Francesco DiCosmo – bass (session, 2003)
* David Eggar – cello (session/live, 2006)
* Josh Freese – drums, percussion (session, 2003)
* Stephanie Pierce – background vocals (live, 1999)
* Will Hunt – drums (live, 2007 and 2009)
* Troy McLawhorn – guitar (live, 2007)
Discography
Main article: Evanescence discography
Studio albums
* Origin (2000; demo album)
* Fallen (2003)
* The Open Door (2006)
Live albums
* Anywhere but Home (2004)