Date of Birth

13 December 1981, Riverside, California, USA

Birth Name

Amy Lynn Lee

Nickname

Queen of Rock
America's Goth Sweetheart.
Snow White (fans).

Height

5' 3½" (1.61 m)

Mini Biography

Amy Lynn Hartzler (known professionally as Amy Lee) was born on December 13, 1981 to John Lee, a disc jockey and TV personality, and Sara Cargill. They moved from California to Florida to Illinois, and then finally to Arkansas. Amy met young guitarist Ben Moody at a summer camp in 1994 while playing on the piano. He was astounded by her talents as a singer and pianist, so he convinced her to form a band with him. They went through several names, including Childish Intentions and Stricken, before settling for Evanescence. They were signed by Big-Wig Enterprises in 2000 and released a collection of demos called "Origin". Later in 2002, they got a record deal with Wind-Up Records along with former band member David Hodges and created their debut "Fallen," a 7x platinum selling album, which led to the international success that they are today. "Fallen" was followed by the release of "The Open Door" in 2006 and the self-titled album "Evanescence" in 2011.

As a solo artist, Amy has collaborated with bands such as Korn and Seether. She has also contributed to the soundtrack for Underworld (2003) and musical projects such as Nightmare Revisited (2008), Muppets:The Green Album (2011) and We Walk The Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash (2012).

Amy marks her debut as a film composer co-scoring the indie film War Story (2014) with friend and composer Dave Eggar.

Trivia

• Is the Lead Singer and Frontwoman of the band Evanescence.
• She was meeting a few of her friends at a restaurant when a guy she barely knew looked into her eyes and asked her, "Are you happy?" She knew that she truly wasn't, and those simple words really struck her. That is how the opening lines to the song "Bring Me to Life" ("How can you see into my eyes like open doors...?") came about. The young man who inspired the lyrics to the song is her current husband, Josh Hartzler.
• Her favorite artists are Tori Amos, Nirvana, Michael Jackson, NIN (Trent Reznor), Björk and Coldplay.
• Says that if she didn't become famous she would "help people in some way".
• Is the daughter of Sara Cargill, of Clan Drummond, and husband John Lee, and sister to Robbie, Carrie and Laurie.
• Is named after the 70s song "Amie".
• Born in California. Grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, Illinois and finally Little Rock Arkansas, where she met her band.
• Collaborated with rock group Seether on their song 'Broken' for the soundtrack from The Punisher (2004).
• Won the awards for Best New Artist & Best Hard Rock Performance for Bring Me To Life, at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
• She has a kitten named Zero.
• When offered a cameo in the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), she requested that she play a character who gets killed.
• She is a classically trained pianist. She spent 9 years studying classical piano in her youth.
• Attended and graduated from Pulaski Academy, a private elementary and junior/senior high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, class of 2000.
• Briefly attended Middle Tennessee State University.
• Was president of the choir council her senior year. She wrote a choir arrangement called "Listen to the Rain" which was performed by the school choir at graduation.
• While growing up, she and her family moved frequently to many places, including Illinois, Kansas, and Florida before finally settling in Little Rock, Arkansas.
• Was an alto in her school choir.
• Is a spokesperson for the National (American) Epilepsy Foundation.
• After her 3 year old sister's tragic death, Amy wrote a song called Hello, it's track 9 on their debut album "Fallen". It was performed for her family. It's personal, so personal that she says she can't perform it live at concerts because she'll go into a serious breakdown.
• Father, John Lee, is also a a Television spokesperson for various regional and local advertisers and won NBC's "The Gong Show" in 1980. He defeated Pee Wee Herman by playing guitar and singing, "Desperado".
• Had encounters with stalkers. Hence brought the song "Snow White Queen" on Evanescence's album "The Open Door". The title came from 'Snow white' which is a nickname given to her by fans. and 'Queen' Amy said that the scary attention that the stalker gave her made her feel in a twisted way "like a Queen".
• (May 6, 2007) Married her longtime boyfriend Josh Hartzler following a 4-month-long engagement.
• Has a son, Jack Lion Hartzler (b. July 24, 2014 at 7:51 a.m., weighing in at 7 lbs., 13 oz. and measuring 21 inches long), with her husband Josh Hartzler.
• Vocal range is C3-E6, 3.2 Octaves.

Trademarks:

• Her eyes are light blue and she sometimes wears green contacts.
  
• Her long, jet-black hair
  
• Her powerful Mezzo-Soprano vocals
  
• off-beat style
  
• Frequent snow and underwater effects in music videos.
  
• Eyebrow piercing
  
• Passionate Live performances, gothic persona.
  
• Her lyrics frequently entail inner turmoil, childhood trauma, dysfunctional relationships (familial or romantic), regrets, and talking to the dead.
  

Quotes

• I'm glad that people are accepting our music and are connected to our art. Whether we're popular or not, I don't care.
• "The fact that he left the band, it wasn't like it killed me and hurt my feelings and made me feel like I lost a friend, it was actually more of a relief because he'd been so unhappy on tour recently that it was making everyone else unhappy. We all hope he's happier now." - commenting on Ben Moody's decision to leave the band.
• "We're definitely a rock band, but the twist is that the band's music is epic, dramatic, dark rock." - on Evanescence.
• My darlings, if I can't write dark, epic music, i can't live!
• I am Evanescence. I am the only original member. I have basically hired the band. Evanescence has become me. It is mine and it's exactly how I want it to be.
• If people are making fun of you, then you're probably doing something right.
• I'm not ashamed of my spiritual beliefs, but I in no way incorporate them into this band.
• I find smoking unattractive.