The track “Bring Me To Life” usually closes the shows of Evanescence . Not surprisingly, the song is part of the debut album “Fallen” which sold almost 20 million copies worldwide.
Amy wrote “Bring Me To Life” at the age of 19 and when the song was chosen to become one of the album’s first singles, the record company asked for a male voice to be added. So Paul McCoy, lead singer of the band 12 Stones, was invited to participate in the track with verses in the chorus.
Despite accepting, the vocalist never “swallowed” the record company’s decision, which at the time even threatened not to release the track if Amy Lee did not accept the change. In an interview with the website “The Forty Five” in 2020, the vocalist detailed the conflict.
“The fact that it was a woman and a piano at the beginning of the track was too much for them (…) I had to think that we would be dropped by the record company if I turned down the new version. Eventually we came to the agreement that we would only have a guest vocalist on one song, but it was very difficult for me because I felt like I had made a sacrifice in my art.”
In March of this year, the vocalist returned to the subject in an interview with “Metal Hammer”. She stated that at a certain point in her career, she stopped playing “Bring Me To Life” live.
“I stopped playing a long time ago. Obviously, if we’re in the same city as Paul [McCoy] (…) we would play it because it’s fun, cool and nostalgic. But the sound is not my style. That’s why it was so hard to swallow. But we won because we didn’t have to change our whole sound.”
The first version of “Bring Me To Life”, recorded in 2002, without the rap verses and was made available on the commemorative edition of the album “Fallen” in November 2023. After the release, Amy Lee returned to perform the first version of the track live.
Evanescence at Rock in Rio
Evanescence performed last Sunday (15), on the Palco Mundo stage at Rock in Rio. About to start the performance, vocalist Amy Lee noticed a problem with her in-ear headphones — the type of headphones used by artists on stage. Until the device was fixed by the team, the show was delayed by just over 10 minutes. Check out the full review of the show.
This content was originally published in Evanescence: understand why Amy Lee took the rap out of “Bring Me To Life” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
