Evanescence

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1. Disappearance like a vapor.

2. The name that Amy and Ben decided to call themselves after looking in a dictionary and finding the original definition of evanescence. Evanescence has become a household name.

3. The name of the EP of the very first collection of Evanescence songs officially released in 1998. Features early versions of Where Will You Go, Imaginary, and Understanding (which is the first song ever written for the band). 100 copies of the EP were produced and then sold out after an early performance by the band.

4. The name of a lesser-known album by a band called Scorn. Many confuse the Scorn album with Evanescence’s works. Among the works of Scorn: Silver Rain Fell, Exodus, Night Tide and Falling.

Biography

Evanescence Circa 2000: Ben Moody, David Hodges and Amy Lee.

In the Beginning... 1995–2001

Evanescence was founded by Amy Lee and former lead guitarist Ben Moody. It's rumored that the two met at a youth camp in Arkansas, Where Moody Heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano, but this fact was later disconfirmed by Amy in an interview for the magazine Rolling Stones. 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. 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, they decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear"). They released two EP's ("Evanescence EP" and "Sound Asleep EP") in 1998 and 1999. Very few copies of these CDs were made, both distributed by Bigwig Enterprises.

When this band started I was about 14 or so, and it was nothing more than a lot of song-writing and home recording. Throughout my high school years Ben and I (and later, David) filled all our spare time obsessing over songs, demoing them the best we could out of our parents houses, and playing the occasional club or cafe gig. Origin is a collection of our best home made recordings as of 2001 (I think. Maybe 2000...) Anyway, back then we were still finding ourselves- learning how to write. I've always felt that our music has grown and improved tremendously since then and want to keep doing better and better than before, instead of looking back. To be honest, its hard to listen to the really old stuff without laughing at myself a little. But of course those songs will always be special to me, and remind me of a time in my life that was both wonderful and terrible. It's so cool to have them recorded, so I can go back and listen to my teenaged self- to remember things I'd forgotten.

Their first record, Origin, was released on November 4th, 2000. Writing credits include Amy, Ben, and David Hodges. Amy herself does not consider the record ro be an actual album; rather, she considers it merely a bundle of demo songs (some of which she says are not done properly) that was sent to record companies. Only 2500 copies of this record were ever made, and it is thus not generally available in stores. In response, Amy and Ben encouraged fans to download the band's older songs.

Fallen Era. 2002–2005

David Llft the band in December of 2002, four months before Fallen was released, because he thought he was leading the band to the Christian rock scene more than Ben Moody and Amy Lee wanted to. Just before Fallen, in January, Mystary EP was sold during a concert as a "Fallen Sampler" When thier debut Album released by the major Wind-Up Records, the band consisted of Amy Lee, Ben Moody, Rocky Gray (Drums), John LeCompt (Guitar), and William Boyd (Bass). The same day as Fallen, the Daredevil movie soundtrack was released featuring Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" and "My Immortal". "Bring Me To Life", the first single off Fallen, was a global hit for the band and reached #5 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Fallen spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10, was certified 7x Platinum in the United States and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide; 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.

On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band in the middle of the European Tour, reportedly because of creative differences. His explanation of the event can be read in his open letter to the fans. In an interview several months later, Amy Lee said:

It's actually been a relief, I don't mean that as a negative toward Ben, but we've all been through a lot and we were at breaking point. And the thing is, we'd gotten to a point that if something didn't change, we wouldn't have been able to make a second record.

Terry Balsamo, former guitarist from Cold joined the band in Moody's place.

The three other singles released from Fallen during 2003 and 2004 are "Going Under", "Everybody's Fool" and "My Immortal", which later became one of the most popular Evanescence songs.

In 2004 Evanescence released a live album + DVD set: "Anywhere But Home" was released November 22, 2004, and consists of a concert at the Zenith in Paris on May 25, a behind-the-scenes footage and the music videos off Fallen. Also on the CD are the live songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack, released during 2005), "Farther Away", and the band's cover of Korn's "Thoughtless", along with the studio version of the B-Side "Missing".

The Open Door Era. 2006–2009

A spokesperson for the band's label confirmed on July 14, 2006, that Will Boyd had left Evanescence on good terms in late June for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family", after the recordings of "The Open Door" were completed. In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Lee announced he would have been replaced by Tim McCord. 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. The Open Door is Evanescence's second official album and third album overall; it was released on September 30, 2006, in Australia and Italy, October 2, 2006, in Europe and October 3, 2006, in North America. The album was recorded at The Record Plant in Hollywood, California, and mixed at Ocean Way Studios in March of 2006. It debuted at #1 in the US, Australia, Germany, Greece, Japan, and Switzerland and was in the Top 5 in Austria, Canada, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, UK, Ireland, Korea, Norway, and Denmark. The album was preceded by the single "Call Me When You're Sober", the music video for the song, based on a Little Riding Hood concept, was released on September 25. 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). They also co-headlined on the Family Values Tour 2007 along with Korn and other bands.

Evanescence circa 2007: Tim McCord, Will Hunt, Amy Lee, Terry Balsamo and Troy McLawhorn.

John was officially "fired" from Evanescence on May 4th, 2007 for unknown reasons. Rocky officially left Evanescence on May 4th, 2007, some people believe he did it in order to protest over John getting fired, but this wasn't the reason. Rocky had already decided to leave Evanescence in January (probably because he wanted to work on his side projects, but this is just a theory). His contract with Wind-Up said that he had to finish the tour first. He wasn't allowed to say anything about his plans about leaving either. When John was fired, he defied Wind-Up and told the fans anyway. Wind-up issued a press release on May 17, 2007, stating that Will Hunt (Drums) and Troy McLawhorn (Guitar) from Dark New Day would go on tour with Evanescence as guest members until the end of the Family Values Tour in September 2007, but both continued to play with the band through The Open Door tour.

Third Studio Album. 2010 onward

Under construction.

Line Up History

1995–1998	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Ben Moody – Electric guitar, bass
1999–2002	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Ben Moody – Electric guitar, bass David Hodges – Piano, keys, backing vocals, drums
2002–2003	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Ben Moody – Rhytm guitar, bass John LeCompt (on tour) – Rhytm guitar, bass Rocky Gray (on tour) – Drums
2003	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Ben Moody – Main guitar, rhytm guitar Francesco DiCosmo (on recording sessions) – Bass Josh Freese (on recording sessions) – Drums
2003	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Ben Moody – Main guitar John LeCompt – Rhytm guitar Will Boyd – Bass Rocky Gray – Drums
2003–2006	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Terry Balsamo – Main guitar John LeCompt – Rhytm guitar Will Boyd – Bass Rocky Gray – Drums
2006–2007	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Terry Balsamo – Main guitar John LeCompt – Rhytm guitar Tim McCord – Bass Rocky Gray – Drums
2007	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Terry Balsamo – Main guitar Troy McLawhorn (on tour) – Rhytm guitar Tim McCord – Bass Will Hunt (on tour) – Drums
2007–2010	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys Terry Balsamo – Main guitar Tim McCord – Bass
2010–present	Amy Lee – Voice, piano, keys, harp Terry Balsamo – Main guitar Tim McCord – Bass Will "Science" Hunt – Drums, programming Will Hunt – Drums