Amy Lynn Lee (born December 13, 1981) is an American singer. She founded the band
Evanescence with Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp when Lee was playing Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano.
Lee was born in Riverside, California. She has a brother and two sisters. At school, Lee was president of the choir council, and appeared in a number of plays. Her family moved to many places, including Illinois, Kansas, and Florida, but finally settled in Little
Rock, Arkansas, where
Evanescence started. She graduated from Pulaski Academy in the year 2000. She also briefly attended Middle Tennessee State University.
When Lee was 6, her 3 year old sister, Bonnie, died, and thus years later Lee recorded the song "Hello", featured on the Fallen
album. This is the only song on Fallen that the
band has not performed live.
Since May 2003, she has been in a relationship with Shaun Morgan of the band Seether, and sings with him on Seether's song "Broken".
Lee has a trademark gothic style, marked by her occasional use of gothic make-up (black eyeliner) and unique fashion which consists of often Victorian-styled clothing. She is known to design her own clothes, and sometimes even sew them herself. Starting her own clothing line has not been ruled out, according to her, although she has expressed concerns about the viability of such an endeavour, as she has mentioned that she prefers to create unique hand-crafted costumes rather than mass-produced fashions. In concerts, she often wears a corset or fishnet, and has a notable piercing on her left eyebrow which is visible on the cover of Fallen (
Evanescence's debut album), even though fans have noted she appears to have removed it (at least temporarily) in recent concerts.
Many fans praise Lee for her refusal to emulate other celebrities by using sex appeal in her music. She has stated on a number of occasions that she would never "flash" her breasts or engage in other publicity stunts which would draw attention to herself. In fact, in the music video of
Evanescence's latest single, "Everybody's Fool," she seeks to mock such artists by suggesting celebrities who use sex to appeal to an audience are "everybody's fool" and are in fact, merely peddling "lies" (the unifying theme of the music video).
Many fans have also suggested that she is very down to earth and refuses to be politically correct. In a recent interview, for instance, she called Velvet Revolver's latest album "a bore." She also uses profanity without hesitation. However, she has said, flat out, she is a Christian and is "very" in touch with her spirit.