Amy Lee

Amy Lee has been married to therapist Josh Hartzler since May 6, 2007. They have one son, Jack Lion Hartzler, who was born in July 2014.

Lee was previously in a relationship with Seether singer Shaun Morgan from 2003 to 2005. She has also spoken about experiencing anxiety and depression from an early age and has described music and creative work as a way to process difficult emotions.

Lee met guitarist Ben Moody at a youth camp in 1994, when she was 13. They began writing and performing acoustic music together in Little Rock, Arkansas, and co-founded Evanescence. The duo released the Evanescence EP in 1998, Sound Asleep in 1999, and the demo album Origin in 2000 before signing with Wind-up Records in 2001.

Evanescence's debut album, Fallen, was released in 2003 and became a major commercial success through songs including "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal." Moody left the band during the Fallen tour in October 2003, after which Terry Balsamo joined Evanescence and became Lee's co-writing partner.

Lee continued Evanescence with The Open Door in 2006, the self-titled album Evanescence in 2011, Synthesis in 2017, and The Bitter Truth in 2021. The Open Door gave Lee greater creative control and explored themes of recovery, freedom, and confronting painful experiences.

Synthesis reworked earlier Evanescence songs with orchestral and electronic elements and introduced two new compositions. The accompanying Synthesis Live tour marked the band's first performances with a live orchestra. Lee has described Evanescence's musical identity as a combination of classical and cinematic influences with alternative rock and metal.

During periods when Evanescence was inactive, Lee developed work outside the band. She collaborated with composer and cellist Dave Eggar on Aftermath, a soundtrack album for the film War Story, released in 2014. She also composed music for Indigo Grey: The Passage and recorded "Speak to Me," the end-title song for Voice from the Stone.

Lee released the covers EP Recover, Vol. 1 in 2016, featuring her versions of songs by Portishead, U2, Led Zeppelin, and Chris Isaak. That year she also released Dream Too Much, a children's album created with her family and inspired by her son. Her other screen-related work includes music for Blind and a voice role in Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar.

Lee has collaborated with musicians and bands including Korn, Seether, Lindsey Stirling, Body Count, Halestorm, Wagakki Band, Bring Me the Horizon, Poppy, Courtney LaPlante, and Halsey. Her collaborations include "Freak on a Leash" with Korn, "Broken" with Seether, "Love Goes On and On" with Lindsey Stirling, and "Hand That Feeds" with Halsey for the film Ballerina.

She became the American chairperson of Out of the Shadows, an international foundation focused on epilepsy education. Her advocacy has personal significance because her younger brother Robby lived with severe epilepsy. Lee received United Cerebral Palsy's Luella Bennack Award in 2012 for work related to education, dignity, and accessibility.

Lee began writing poetry about eternity and loneliness at age 10 and wrote her first remembered instrumental piece, "Eternity of the Remorse," at 11. She studied classical piano for nine years and cites Mozart, Beethoven, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer among her early influences. Her songwriting often combines piano, electronic textures, orchestral sounds, and heavy rock.

Lee sings in a mezzo-soprano register and is known for a wide-ranging voice with an operatic quality. She has also shaped Evanescence's visual identity through Victorian-inspired clothing, gothic makeup, album artwork, and music videos, and designs many of her own stage outfits.