Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee has never been afraid to speak up about what she believes
in.
And this has gained her…what I falsely believe…a reputation as being a difficult person in
the music industry.
It may also have something to do with the fact that the band has gone through a lot
of lineup changes and the band has had their fair share of controversy.
Today, I’m going to dive deeper into why she may have been categorized as one of the
most difficult women in music.
A lot of the evidence against Amy rides on the fact that two of her exes are also musicians
who have spoken up about her and their breakups very publicly.
But let’s face it, when a couple is both in the public eye, things often end in a very
messy way.
(insert johnny depp/amber heard trial fecal matter).
So let’s get into the feuds and battles Amy Lee has found herself in during the course
of her 20 plus year music career.
AMY AND GENE SIMMONS
Things can get heated when your willing to go head to head with one of the biggest rock
stars of all time.
And that’s exactly what happened when Evanesence frontwoman Amy Lee spoke up against Gene Simmons.
Here’s exactly what went down.
Gene was asked about his musical tastes in an interview with Gulf News and he made a
couple of pretty bold statements.
The first was “rock is dead” and revealed that he actually prefers pop, hip-hop and
EDM these days.
The second was when he called female-fronted rock bands a “genre.”
This comment in particular is what really got Amy going.
She criticized his comments in an interview with Altpress.
Her reply was summed up like this:
“Everything else you ever say, I’m done listening to you.
Eventually, the way that we fix this is that [people like you] will no longer be involved
in this community, and the young generation and trailblazers like all of yourselves will
continue to support this message of: 'F**k it, don’t ‘female-front’ me.'
That’s not a genre."
Did you know that the band’s first album almost wasn’t released, after the label
and band came up against creative differences?
It’s true.
Wind-Up Records, who also had rock group “Creed” on their roster was insistent that the band
needed a full-time male co-vocalist, and that they wouldn’t release “Fallen” without
that condition being met.
Amy has dropped out of college to pursue the band full-time and had a lot riding on this.
Yet, she told the label she was willing to walk away because she strongly disagreed with
their suggestion.
During an interview with 93X radio, she said that:
“I was really, really against having any male vocals in our music.
That was really hard.
And it was an idea that came from the label.
They came up with this idea about having something in there that would be familiar to listeners
in order to get us on the radio.”
The band eventually compromised and vocalist Paul McCoy was brought on for one song “Bring
me to Life” from their debut “Fallen” album.
Amy and guitarist Ben Moody met as teenagers in Arkansas and officially formed the band
in 1994, after ditching other names they considered for the band including Childish Intentions
and Stricken.
Ten years later, in 2003, they released their multi-platinum deut album “Fallen” through
Wind-Up records.
In a 2007 interview with the Santa Barbara independent, Amy had this to say about the
process of making “Fallen.”:
"Fallen really is a lot of compromise.
It definitely leaned toward what [Ben Moody] wanted a lot of the time."
Unfortunately, this was also the year that their relationship imploded.
Creative differences were a huge reason for the split as Moody favored a more commercial
sound, and Amy was more focused on creative freedom and artistic integrity.
The relationship had also turned toxic after many years together as a couple.
In a profile with music connection, Lee recalls a conversation with friend and future husband
Josh Hartzler who asked her if she was happy at the time.
“I remember just looking down, kind of malfunctioning, and saying something quick to change the subject—but
it affected me.”
That conversation later inspired her songs “Bring Me to Life” from 2003’s Fallen
album and “Good Enough” from 2006’s The Open Door.
Lee would Moody
has his own explanation for the break-up which
he shared in a 2010 interview with Spin Magazine:
“Sometimes you grow together and sometimes you grow apart.
[Amy Lee and I] both contributed to the resentment of the deterioration of our friendship that
quickly turned into a downward spiral of animosity, conflicting opinions, and a very volatile
environment.
By the time we went on tour to support [2003’s] Fallen, it sadly was over.”
When it comes to her breakups, Amy keeps pretty quiet in terms of speaking to the press, and
is more likely to use these experiences as musical inspiration.
This, unfortunately, has gained her a reputation as being difficult since she simply refuses
to fight battles to do with her personal life publicly.
***
Amy soon found herself in a toxic relationship with Seether frontman Shawn Morgan from 2003
to 2005, who was struggling with substance abuse during their time together..
They recorded a song together in 2004 called "Broken", from Seether’s “The Punisher
Album.”
Meanwhile, Evanescence was working on their sophomore album “The Open Door” with Moody
replacement Terry Balsamo.
It would be on this album that she’d pen songs about both her exes - including “The
last song I’m wasting on you” - rumored to be about Ben Moody - and “Call me when
you’re sober” about Shawn Morgan.
According to Morgan, he was particularly hurt by the timing of the album release, which
happened just a few weeks after entering rehab, and had this to say in a 2007 interview with
MTV online.
“The song “has followed me around and haunted me, chipping away at my reputation.”
In a lyric from “Call Me When you're Sober, Amy sings:
Couldn't take the blame, sick with shame Must be exhausting to lose your own game,
selfishly hated No wonder you're jaded
You can't play the victim this time
In response, Seether penned their own breakup song called “Breakdown” from their fourth
album, Beauty in Negative Spaces, that’s rumored to be about Amy Lee:
So break me down if it makes you feel right And hate me now if it keeps you alright
You can break me down if it takes all your might
'Cause I'm so much more that meets the eye
AMY LEE Battle Against Manager Abuse Allegations
BATTLE AGAINST GRIEF
Amy Lynn Lee, born in Riverside California to a Radio VJ father, tragically lost both
of her siblings - a sister and a brother.
Her sister died young - at the age of 3 - from an undisclosed cause.
Amy has never revealed her sister’s name because she doesn’t want her gravesite to
become a tourist attraction for superfans of the band.
She lost her brother, who had epilepsy, more recently in 2018.
Known for being one of the few women in rock without visible tattoos, she got her first
one his honor after his passing - 3 hearts on her wrist.
BATTLE AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN ROCK SCENE
Although adopted early on by fans of Christian rock, the band quickly broke off from that
expectation.
After band members took the lord’s name in vain, chairman Alan Meltzer of their label
Wind-Up Records released a statement to Christian retailers telling them to pull the “Fallen”
album from their shelves as quoted from an MTV online article:
Despite the "spiritual underpinning that ignited interest and excitement in the Christian religious
community," Evanescence are "a secular band, and as such view their music as entertainment."
Therefore, he wrote, Wind-Up "strongly feels that they no longer belong in Christian markets."
The label even went so far as to cover the shipping costs for retailers to return copies
of the album.
A Maryland couple filed a class-action lawsuit against WalMart after they heard the F word
during a cover of the Korn song “thoughtless” on 2004’s “Anywhere but home” live album.
The band didn’t have to pay a settlement and the lawsuit was resolved strangely by
telling customers who had bought that album at that specific Wal-Mart that they could
return it for a refund.
Ex-Bandmember Fights
Former band members have also spoken out against her, specifically guitarist Jen Megura (Jen
Ma-jura) who was fired from the band in 2022].
It’s been suggested, though, in online forums that the firing was justified because Megura
shared confidential band information with her fan club, including information about
Lee’s mental state.
Amy Lee Getting Sued by Management
Amy Lee and Evanescence would be sued by their former manager Andrew Lurie who alleged he
was not paid proper commissions.
He managed the band from 2006 to 2015.
The band released 3 albums during this time and Lurie claimed his management company was
supposed to made $5 million in commissions, but they were only paid $3.5 million.
He took the band to court and one of his craziest claims was that he was owed royalties on the
band’s first album, which came out in 2003 and their 2004 live release and Lurie wasn’t
even managing the band.
In a funny twist, the three year court battle saw the judge award Evanesence $1million but
the band didn’t pocket the money.
Instead, most of that money went to pay legal costs.
YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING AT THIS POINT WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO AMY LEE…AND HOW DID
ALL THESE BATTLES SHE HAVE TO FIGHT ACTUALLY AFFECT HER?
After their 2006 album the Open Door, Amy took some time off -Since then, the band went
on to release 3 more studio albums including their 2011 self-titled album, 2017’s Synthesis
and 2021’s The Bitter Truth.
On why she needed the break, Amy said:
“It’s a very consuming thing.
I love this band, but it really can consume your identity a little bit, and for me that
was the case.
I was feeling, ‘I’m the girl from Evanescence, with all these expectations and responsibilities
all day long, every day, for the past 10 years, and I just need to be Amy, I need to be human,
I need to feel … normal.”
- 2011, San Antonio Current online
She also found lasting love and started a family, marrying longtime friend Josh Hartzler
who works as a therapist.
She gave birth to her son Jack Lion in 2014.
Amy never succumbed to substance abuse like so many other musicians who have gone through
painful life experiences do.
In an interview with Louder Sound online she explains that:
“When you’re hurting, you grab onto anything that helps.
That’s why addiction is so high in people who are grieving.
Music has been that addiction for me, a positive addiction, when you feel something so strong
that it has to come out of your body.
Sing it, paint it, express it.
Art for me is always the way to get those things out, I don’t feel the same just talking
about it.”
From her early days impersonating the Amadeaus movie by trying to play the piano for her
friends upside down, to starting Evansences with Ben Moody as a teenager, her passion
and dedication to her craft as a singer and a songwriter is undeniable (even if you don’t
consider yourself to be an Evanescence fan.)
Amy channeled all of these battles and experiences into her music, which is part of the reason
why it’s so powerful and packed with emotion.
What do you think about Amy Lee after watching this video?
Let me know in the comments section and don’t forget to watch our next video.