What is Amy Lee's Net Worth?
Amy Lee is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has a net worth of $8 million. Amy Lee is best known as the co-founder and lead singer of the rock band Evanescence. With the band, she has recorded such hit songs as "Bring Me to Life," "Going Under," "My Immortal," and "Call Me When You're Sober." Lee has been involved in numerous other musical projects over the years, including composing the soundtracks to the films "War Story," "Indigo Grey: The Passage," and "Blind."
Early Life and Education
Amy Lee was born on December 13, 1981 in Riverside, California as the eldest of five children of Sara and John. When Lee was six, one of her sisters passed away from an unidentified illness, changing her perception on life. To cope, she began creating, and eventually developed a passion for the piano. Lee also started writing poetry. When she was a preteen, she moved with her family to various locations around the United States before settling in Little Rock, Arkansas. There, Lee attended the Pulaski Academy, where she sang in the school choir and became choir president. During her free time, she made music and painted. For her higher education, Lee attended Middle Tennessee State University for a semester before dropping out to focus on her music career.
Evanescence
While attending a Christian youth camp in 1994, Lee met fledgling guitarist Ben Moody. The two soon began playing music together, and eventually started performing acoustic sets at coffee houses and bookstores in the Little Rock area. Lee and Moody went on to co-found the rock band Evanescence in 1995. As a duo, they released their first EP in 1998, followed by another in 1999. At the beginning of the new millennium, Evanescence self-released a demo CD entitled "Origin," which was sold at local shows. In 2001, the band signed with Wind Up Records. Evanescence had its commercial breakthrough in 2003 with its debut studio album, "Fallen." Reaching number three on the Billboard 200, the album spawned the hit singles "Bring Me to Life," "Going Under," "My Immortal." Evanescence went on to win two Grammy Awards: Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance, for "Bring Me to Life." In the middle of the "Fallen" tour in Europe, Moody left the band due to creative differences; he was replaced by Terry Balsamo, who became the permanent lead guitarist and co-lyricist of Evanescence.
In 2004, Evanescence embarked on another tour to support the release of the live album and concert DVD "Anywhere but Home." After finishing the tour, Lee retreated to her home and cut off contact with other people. During her time in seclusion, she wrote music, painted, and attended therapy. Lee eventually reunited with Balsamo to co-write and record Evanescence's second studio album, "The Open Door." Released in 2006, the album debuted atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the hit single "Call Me When You're Sober." Another single, "Sweet Sacrifice," earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. After a five-year break from recording, Evanescence released its self-titled third studio album in 2011. Like the album before it, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Following another long break, Evanescence released its fourth studio album, "Synthesis," in late 2017; an orchestral-electronica reworking of the band's previous songs, it debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200. That album was followed in 2021 by "The Bitter Truth."
Solo Career
Lee began her solo career in the early 2000s as a featured vocalist on songs by Big Dismal, David Hodges, and Seether. In 2008, she contributed to the tribute album "Nightmare Revisited," which contains covers of the songs and score from the animated film "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Lee later contributed to two more tribute albums, 2011's "Muppets: The Green Album" and 2012's "We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash." While Evanescence was on hiatus in 2013, Lee began composing film scores with composer and musician Dave Eggar. The pair did the soundtrack for the 2014 film "War Story," with the soundtrack album being released under the name "Aftermath." The following year, Lee, Eggar, and Chuck Palmer composed the music for the short film "Indigo Grey: The Passage."
In early 2016, Lee released her debut solo EP "Recover, Vol. 1," featuring covers of songs by Portishead, U2, Led Zeppelin, and Chris Isaak. Later in the year, she released her debut solo studio album, "Dream Too Much." Lee also reunited with Eggar to compose the soundtrack to the film "Blind." In 2017, she contributed the song "Speak to Me" to the film "Voice from the Stone." Among her many other solo contributions, Lee has been a featured vocalist on songs by Lindsey Stirling, Body Count, Halestorm, Wagakki Band, and Bring Me the Horizon.
Personal Life
From 2003 to 2005, Lee dated singer-songwriter and musician Shaun Morgan of the band Seether. After that, she dated Josh Hartzler, a longtime friend. Lee and Hartzler got married in 2007, and had a son in 2014.