Evanescence

Active activity from 1995 to the present (22 years).

Group members:

 Amy Lee

 Ben Moody (1995 - 2003)

 David Hodges (1999 - 2002)

 John LeCompt (2003 - 2007)

 Rocky Gray (2003 - 2007)

 Terry Balsamo (2004 to present)

Tim McCord (2006 to present)

Troy McLahorn (2011-present)

 Will Hunt (2010 to present)

 William Boyd (from 2003 to 2006)

Evanescence is a Grammy-winning band, founded in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, with singer / pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody (who left in 2003).

After recording private albums, the band signed to Wind-up Records and released their first full-length album Fallen in 2003, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards. A year later, they released their first live album, Anywhere But Home, which sold over a million copies worldwide. In 2006, they released their second studio album, The Open Door, which sold over five million copies. They released their third and final studio album, Evanescence, in 2011.

The band currently consists of Amy Lee (vocals, piano, keyboards), Terry Balsamo (guitars) and Tim McCord (bass). Former members: David Hodges (piano, keyboards, backing vocals, remaining in 2002), Ben Moody (guitar, in 2003), William Boyd (bass guitar, left in 2006), John LeComp (guitars, backing vocals, released in 2007), and Rocky Gray (drums, remaining in 2007). Session members are Troy McLavhorn (guitars) and Will Hunt (drums), both from Dark New Day, they were "borrowed" to replace LeCompt and Gray during the 2007 tour.

Amy Lee and Ben Moody met in 1994 at a youth camp in Little Rock, where Moody heard Lee play "I'll Do Anything For Love" (but I won't) with Meat Loaf on the piano. Their first songs were Solitude and Give To Me, written by Lee, and Understanding and My Immortal, written by Moody.

The two songs Lee and Moody took the time to play on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for the show. The band eventually went live and became one of the most popular in the area. After experimenting with band names such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided Evanescence, which means "disappear" (from evanesce, which means "disappear"). Lee stated that he loves the name because "it is mysterious and dark and puts the picture in the minds of the listeners."

Their first full-length demo "Origin" (released in 2000) is relatively unknown. The group also released two EPs. First, the self-titled Evanescence EP (1998), of which about 100 copies were made, and in the second, the Sound Asleep EP, also known as Whisper EP (1999), limited to 50 copies. Origin and EP contain demos of some of the songs on their debut album Fallen. For example, the My Immortal recording found on Fallen can also be found on Origin, minus a few additional soundtracks. Only 2, 500 copies of this recording have been released; Lee and Moody responded by encouraging fans to download the band's old songs from the Internet.

Amy said in several interviews that "Origin" was not an album, it was just meant to showcase. As an official CD, it should never have been officially released. According to Amy Lee, “Origin is not an album. Should I say which is clearer? Origin ”is not an album. We recorded demos of it, we recorded it a long time ago, in Ben's apartment or in my parents' attic, which costs $ 300. It sounds like shit. Don't feel bad that you don't have it, just download it. It looks like an album because we had an artist who made this cool album cover for us. We put everything we had there, and some of the songs that are there on Fallen have just been improved. " A video of this interview can be viewed here.

The band sent Origin to several labels, and Wind-Up Records eventually signed with them. The band then recorded a large collection of demos during 2001 and 2002. After that, the band began work on their second full-length album. However, after the album was finished, Hodges left the band in December 2002.

An album entitled "Fallen" was released in March 2003. He brought the group international fame, selling 14 million copies worldwide. "Fallen" has since gone platinum 6 times in the United States and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.

However, shortly thereafter, Moody left the band on October 22, 2003 due to internal struggles with the band members. Then he was replaced by guitarist Terry Balsamo from the band Cold. Before leaving, Moody, Gray, LeCompte and Boyd were members of the session, but they subsequently became full members.

Evanescence won Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock P at the 2004 Grammy Awards