Evanescence: A timeline of the goth rock group through the years

Take a look back at the 'Bring Me To Life' hitmakers

Author: Scarlett MartinPublished 1st Oct 2023

Since topping the charts with their debut single 'Bring Me To Life' back in 2003, Evanescence have gone on to sell over a staggering 25 million albums worldwide, win two Grammy awards and continuously sell-out arenas.

Despite going through a few line-up changes over the years, the band is now made up of frontwoman Amy Lee, guitarist Troy McLawhorn, bassist Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt, as well as touring musician Emma Anzai, who provides bass and backing vocals.

Renowned for their emotive rock ballads and Amy's powerful, operatic vocals, Evanescence's most recent release was their fifth studio album 'The Bitter Truth' in March 2021. To celebrate their amazing achievements so far, and the 20th anniversary of their debut 'Fallen', we thought we'd take a look back at the band's rise to fame over the years.

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Evanescence's career highlights in pictures:

1998: The band's inception

Singer and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody formed Evanescence in Arkansas back in 1995, after the pair met at a Christian youth camp. They chose the name Evanescence due to its meaning: "disappearance" or "fading away". The duo released their debut self-titled EP in 1998 and were later joined by friends John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd.

2003: Debut album 'Fallen'

After being signed by Wind-up Records in 2002, the band released their debut album 'Fallen' in 2003. To promote the album, Evanescence headlined the Nintendo Fusion tour in 2003. 'Fallen' spent a whopping 43 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and was certified 7× Platinum in the US after selling more than 17 million copies worldwide. The album included hit singles 'Bring Me to Life', 'My Immortal', 'Going Under' and 'Everybody's Fool'. Mega hit 'Bring Me to Life', featuring guest vocals from Paul McCoy from the band 12 Stones, was an international success, reaching Number 5 on the American Billboard Hot 100 and hitting the top spot in the UK Chart.

2004: Grammy Award wins

The phenomenal success of 'Fallen' saw Evanescence win not one but two Grammy Awards in 2004. Their hit single 'Bring Me To Life' won Best Hard Rock Performance and the band won the award for Best New Artist.

2006: Line-up change and follow-up record

After parting ways with both Will Boyd and Ben Moody, Evanescence and the success of their Grammy wins, Evanescence went back into the studio to record their follow-up album. After 18 months of writing and producing, the band released 'Open Door' in 2006. The album featured singles 'Call Me When Your Sober', 'Lithium', 'Weight Of The World' and 'Sweet Sacrifice' and debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200. The album and single 'Call Me When You're Sober' have since achieve 2x Platinum and Platinum status in the US respectively.

2007-2009: Another line-up change

In 2007, The band announced that guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray had left. The duo went on to join founding Evanescence member Ben Moody to create the band We Are the Fallen. Evanescence brought in two members of Dark New Day, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn to act as their replacements. Two years, later frontwoman Amy Lee announced that the band were going back into the studio to start writing their third, self-titled album.

2011: Third album release and worldwide tour

Due to delays with their record label, Evanescence weren't able to release their third album until 2011, five years after 'Open Door'. Not that it mattered, because 'Evanescence' debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and Number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and took the band on a year-long worldwide tour to promote the album.

2012: Hiatus and Amy Lee's solo project

Evanescence announced that they would be going on a hiatus in 2012, with Amy announcing in NME: "I haven't been sitting down to write. I'm thinking we'll take a break first. I'm really not sure what I'll do next. At the end of any really long tour you need to get your head in order. I think at the end of the run we'll go on a break for a while and figure things out.

"Taking long breaks is seen as a bad thing, but I don't think it's a bad thing. People have the idea that you have to keep putting stuff out while people remember you. But I'd rather make something that's awesome and then make people remember again. I hope it doesn't take five years, but I don't want to put a timeline on it either. We'll all be doing our own thing for a while. They're (my bandmates) very talented and they'll all be fine."

Amy Lee went on to release solo album 'Aftermath' in 2014, a soundtrack for Mark Jackson's film War Story. She said of the project: "It's not what you'd expect; there's a lot of blending of sounds, a lot of ominous tones. I play a lot of keyboard, and a lot of Taurus pedal. There's a lot of low drones."

2015: Reunion with intimate shows

Three years after going on a break, Evanescence ended their hiatus by hosting a three-night show at intimate venues in Nashville, Dallas and LA in November 2015. This was just before the band hopped on a plane to Japan to perform at Ozzy Osbourne's iconic festival Ozzfest, alongside Korn and Ozzy himself.

2015-2016: Another line-up change

In 2015, Evanescence underwent yet another line-up change after long-time guitarist Terry Balsamo, who originally replaced Ben Moody, decided to leave the band. His replacement was the German singer and guitarist, Jen Majura from the band, Equilibrium. Evanescense continued to tour throughout 2016, but focused on playing hits from their previous albums like 'My Immortal' and 'Going Under'.

2017: 'Synthesis'

Fourth record 'Synthesis' was released in November 2017. As well as featuring new material such as 'Imperfection', the album included reworked versions of the band's older works such as 'My Heart Is Broken', 'Lacrymosa' and 'Bring Me To Life'.
'Synthesis' peaked at Number 1 on four of the Billboard charts, including US Top Alternative Albums, US Top Classical Albums, US Top Rock Albums and US Independent Albums.

2018: 'Synthesis Tour' features a live orchestra

To promote the album, the band embarked on the 'Synthesis Live Tour' in October 2017. This 60-date worldwide tour was different from any other tour they had done before because it featured a live orchestra. The tour was co-headlined by violinist Lindsay Stirling who also featured on the band's single 'Hi-Lo'.

2020: Brand new music

In 2020, Evanescence released four new singles, 'Wasted On You', 'The Game Is Over', 'Yeah Right' and 'Use My Voice', which all appear on the band's fifth album, 'The Bitter Truth'. First announced in 2018, it was meant to be released in 2020, but had to be delayed due to the pandemic. 'The Bitter Truth' is not only the band's first album in three years, but also their first album with all-new material since 'Evanescence'.

2021: 'The Bitter Truth' is finally released

Evanescence released the fifth single, 'Better Without You', in early March ahead of the release of 'The Bitter Truth', which finally saw the light of day on 26th March 2021.

2022: 'Bring Me To Life' surpasses 1 billion YouTube views

In February 2022, the band's hit song 'Bring Me To Life' surpassed one billion streams on their YouTube channel, 13 years after its release in 2009.

You can watch the music video for 'Bring Me To Life' right here.

A month later, the band announced that guitarist Jen Majura had left their line-up, with bassist Tim McCord subsequently switching to guitar. Emma Anzai then joined as their new bassist.

2022: Evanescence and Korn co-headline US summer tour

From August to September 2022, Evanescence and Korn co-headlined an 18-date tour throughout the US. But that's not all, as Evanescence at both the Rocklahoma festival, in September, and the Aftershock Festival in October.

2022: One of the best selling hard rock and metal artists of all time

In August 2022, an article by Loudwire reported that the band had sold a ginormous total of 31.9 million albums, making Evanescence one of the best selling hard rock and metal artists of all time.

2022: Evanescence join Within Temptation on their European tour

Towards the end of 2021, the band were set to join fellow rockers Within Temptation for the 'Worlds Collide' European tour, however the dates were rescheduled to November/December 2022. The tour finally took place, running from 9th November - 8th December, after four reschedule attempts since 2019.

2023: 'Fallen' CD eyeshadow palette

In January 2023, Evanescence announced that they had collaborated with cosmetics brand HipDot, creating a 'Fallen' CD eyeshadow palette to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Taking inspiration from the colour palette from the album's cover, the eight different shades are also inspired by, and named after, songs on the album. Examples include a matte muted blue called 'Bring Me To Life', and a foiled royal blue for 'My Immortal'.

Sharing the news of the palette's launch, the band wrote: 'We're excited to announce that we've partnered with @hipdot to create this Fallen CD eyeshadow palette to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year!

The collection is vegan, free of harmful ingredients, certified cruelty-free, and curated to embrace all skin tones.'

2023: Tours and festivals

2023 is looking like a busy year for the band, which now consists of Amy Lee, Troy McLawhorn, Tim McCord and Will Hunt, as well as touring musician Emma Anzai.

After joining Muse on their North American tour from February to April, Evanescence are set to perform at various festivals through the year, including Sick New World (Las Vegas), Welcome to Rockville (Florida), Rock am Ring and Rock im Park (Germany), Summer Sonic Festival (Japan), and, of course, Download Festival's 20th anniversary in England.

2023: 'Fallen' celebrates its 20th anniversary

On 28th September 2023, Evanescence celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album 'Fallen', which brought us huge tracks such as 'Bring Me To Life' and 'Going Under'. To celebrate, the band released remastered versions of the album and a Super Deluxe Edition box set, with the physical copies containing more hidden gems.

They wrote: 'Thank you for an incredible two decades!! 🖤🖤 To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Fallen, we'll be releasing remastered versions of the album on 2-LP, 2-CD, digital, and in a Super Deluxe Edition box set. All physical formats will include previously-unseen photos from the era, a handwritten foreword, and a rare selection of B-sides and recordings. The limited edition box set includes a cassette of 10 previously unreleased demos and voice notes, a book featuring new track-by-track notes, a custom turntable slipmat, plus a set of rare photo prints and enamel pin set round out the collection.

'All Fallen 20th anniversary items are available for preorder in the link in bio! The double vinyl, 2-CD, and digital remasters will be available on November 17th, and the deluxe box sets will be out in February '24.' (sic)