'Amy Hartzler' (born 'Amy Lynn Lee' and best known as 'Amy Lee',
December 13,
1981 in
Riverside, California) is an
American singer-songwriter and classically-trained
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
Lee 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 an unidentified illness.
[3] The song "Hello" from ''Fallen'' has been reported to have been written for her late sister, as well as the song "Like You" from ''The Open Door'' with the lyrics, "I long to be like you, sis, Lie cold in the ground like you did," also hinting at the death of her sister and her grief for it.
[4] Lee took classical
piano lessons for nine years. Her family moved to many places, including
Florida and
Illinois,
[5] 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 co-founded the band with
Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp after he heard Lee playing
Meat Loaf's "
I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)" on the
piano.
[6] Within a month, the pair were playing acoustic sets at Arkansas book stores and coffee houses,
[7] and they eventually recorded two
EPs, ''
Evanescence EP'' (1998) and ''
Sound Asleep EP'' (1999), selling them at various local venues. In 2000, Evanescence recorded the longer EP ''
Origin''. This demo contains three songs from 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'', "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.
[8] The band version was included on later copies of ''Fallen'', notably the Brazilian and Argentinian editions.
Departure of Ben Moody
On
October 22,
2003, guitarist Ben Moody left the band citing "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".
7 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.
[9]
Amy Lee singing at a concert in 2006.
The Open Door
Main articles: The Open Door
Lee had claimed to be working on music for '', but that the music was rejected for being "Too dark and epic." However, the producers of ''Narnia'' stated that Lee was never asked to compose any music for the film, whose score was written by
Harry Gregson-Williams, and that "No Evanescence music was planned for the soundtrack."
[10][11]
While there was some speculation that one of the supposed songs had been cut and used in several tracks of ''The Open Door'', Lee stated this was not true except for part of it being used to segue into the last track of the album, "Good Enough".
[12]
Engagement and marriage
Lee revealed during the taping of MuchMusic's
January 9,
2007 episode of
Live @ Much that she had become engaged the previous evening. She later confirmed on EvThreads.com that she had been proposed to by Josh Hartzler, a 29-year-old therapist and longtime friend.
[13] She noted in an interview that the songs "Good Enough" and "Bring Me To Life" were inspired by him.
[14] The couple were married on
May 6,
2007, and honeymooned near
The Bahamas.
[15] She has posted on EvThreads that she is "now officially Mrs. Amy Hartzler."
[16]
Amy Lee, performing at an Evanescence concert.
Image
Lee has a recognizable
goth style, marked by her occasional use of Gothic make-up and taste for
Victorian-styled clothing.
[17] 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.
[18] In concerts, she often wears a
corset and
fishnets, as well as long skirts and knee-high boots. She used to have a notable piercing on her left eyebrow which is visible on the cover of ''
Fallen''.
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). Many fans praise Lee for her refusal to emulate other celebrities by using
sex appeal in her music.
[19]
In 2006, ''
Blender'' listed Lee as one of the hottest women in rock alongside such singers as
Joan Jett,
Courtney Love and
Liz Phair.
[20]
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".
[21] She performed backup vocals for "Missing You", a song on Big Dismal's 2003 debut album ''Believe'', and sang backup vocals on two songs with 'supergroup'
The Damning Well, though her vocals were taken off the final release due to record label issues.
[22] 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, Robbie, was previously diagnosed with this condition.
[23]
The singer also made a brief guest appearance in the music video for
Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down"
[24], where she chose to appear laying flowers on a grave. She was recorded in Trinity Church in Manhattan. During the shoot, she wore a 'long-sleeve black velvet coat' that was Tim Burton's.
[14]
On
Korn's '', 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
Evanescence
Main articles: Evanescence discography
★ ''
Evanescence EP'' (
December,
1998)
★ ''
Sound Asleep EP'' (
August,
1999)
★ ''
Origin'' (
November 4,
2000)
★ ''
Mystary EP'' (
January,
2003)
★ ''
Fallen'' (
March 4,
2003)
★ ''
Anywhere but Home'' (
November 23,
2004)
★ ''
The Open Door'' (
October 3,
2006)
Collaborations
★
David Hodges featuring Amy Lee - "Breathe" - ''The Summit Church: Summit Worship'' (2000)
★
David Hodges featuring Amy Lee - "Fall Into You" (2000, Unreleased)
★ Big Dismal featuring Amy Lee - "Missing You" - ''Believe'' (2003)
★
Seether featuring Amy Lee - "
Broken" - ''
Disclaimer II'' (2004) and ''
The Punisher Soundtrack'' (2004)
★
Korn featuring Amy Lee - "
Freak on a Leash" - '' (2007)
References
1. Interview with Evanescence singer Amy Lee
2. Pre-Evanescence Andree Farias
3. Survivor! Michael Odell
4. Amy Lee discusses every song from the album
5. Amy's bio
6. Evanescence - The Split Joe D'Angelo
7. Moody blues Tiffany Bakker
8. My Immortal Band Version
9. Evanescence's Amy Lee Sues Former Manager, Alleges Financial And Sexual Misconduct Chris Harris
10. Evanescence's New Sound Is Reminiscent Of ... Evanescence Joe D'Angelo
11. Wardrobe closed to Evanescence singer
12. Discussion of The Open Door album
13. Amy's Engaged!:
★ clink clink
★
★ ahem...
★
14. Amy Lee: Back in Black Josh Eells
15. Evanescence Singer Amy Lee Gets Married Courtney Rubin
16. i've got a new ring & now you've got the scoop
17. Evanescence's Amy shreads her threads!
18. Amy Lee - Instant Fashion Profile
19. Evanescence's Amy Lee Hopes To Get Into Film, Rages Against Cheesy Female Idols Corey Moss
20. Hottest Women of…Rock!
21. Discography / Lyrics / Audio Clips
22. Borland, Bowie, Maynard James Keenan Ready To Unveil Hush-Hush Project Joe D'Angelo
23. Why Epilepsy?
24. Timberlake's Brainstorm: Johnny Cash Video With Kanye, Jigga, Depp, Others Gil Kaufman
25. Amy Lee: Back in Black Josh Eells
External links
★
Evanescence.com - Official U.S. website
★
Out of the Shadows - The Amy Lee Fund for Epilepsy
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