Steve Lillywhite

Amy Lee and Steve Lillywhite

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Stephen Alan Lillywhite, CBE (born 15 March 1955) is an English record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including U2, the Rolling Stones, XTC, Dave Matthews Band, Steel Pulse, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Morrissey, the Killers, Kirsty MacColl, the Pogues, David Byrne, Big Country, Blue October, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Simple Minds, the Psychedelic Furs, Phish, Counting Crows and Joan Armatrading. He has won six Grammy Awards, including the Producer of The Year in 2006, and was made a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE) in 2012 for his contributions to music.

Lillywhite called Evanescence's label and showed interest in working with the band. In 2010, he was the producer of their third studio album, but parted ways in April the same year as he "wasn't the right fit". It was, however, later revealed the label scrapped the album he produced.

In 2013, Lillywhite talked about his work on Evanescence's third album in a interview:

What are things that arise that cause your involvement in producing an artist's album to stop, like that one Dave Matthews Band or the Evanescence record? Well, the Dave Matthews record was a strange situation. With Evanescence, I suppose that I was interested in the idea of Amy [Lee] as a great artist. When I was involved there weren't really many band members involved, so the record was a really interesting combination of electronic sounds, but it didn't have any power chords. I like that. Very rarely do you hear any power chords on records I've made. I suppose I was interested in seeing how she could take her music in a new direction. Maybe I was wrong, but I was thinking, "Does the world really need another Evanescence album that sounds like Evanescence?" I don't know — maybe it did. But what happened was a few people lost their nerve. I don't even think it was her. It was people at the record company who really had no other band. They were thinking more in terms of the commerce rather than the art.

In another interview the same year:

I did some work with Evanescence a couple of years ago. I was very proud of what we did, but the record company decided it sounded not like Evanescence. It seemed like Amy Lee wanted to change her style so that's what we were trying to do because I didn't really think the world really needed another Evanescence record. It's like saying, "Limp Bizkit! Yeah, let's make another Limp Bi-!" No one cares!

In January 2014, Amy sued her label for unpaid royalties and appointing the band under-qualified promoters, and fans asked Lillywhite his thoughts about it. He said he believed the album he was working on was "far better" than the 2011 self-titled album they "forced her to release." He added he was let go because they thought the album "didn't sound enough like Evanescence" and that this was a "fact which I will testify to in court."

When Amy released her cover of Chris Isaak's "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" in 2015, she revealed the cover was slated for inclusion on the original, third album produced by Lillywhite that was rejected by her label. She called it "broken record", and added she owns those unfinished recordings and "plan to finish some, re-do some, and probably keep a couple to myself." Lillywhite is credited as a producer on the "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" cover, along with Amy herself and Will "Science" Hunt.