Amy Lynn Lee was born on December 13, 1981 in Riverside, California. She is the oldest daughter of John Lee, who works as a disc jokey, and Sara Cargill and has three siblings called Carrie, Lori & Robby.

Because of her father's job, Amy's family often had to move and so she also lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, Rockford, Illinois, Maumelle, Arkansas before her family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. Amy attended seven different schools which led to problems with finding new friends. Some time ago, Amy posted about it on evboard.com: "I remember my first week at a new school in jr. high, I didn't know anyone so I just sketched stuff in an art journal during break and lunch and whenever everyone else was socializing. Then, within a couple of days of this, I went to the bathroom, leaving my art journal on my desk. When I came back, it was destroyed. All of my sketches were torn up and crumpled all over the floor. I looked at a girl next to me and said, "what happened??" I remember her saying, blank and indifferent, "oh, christina did it. She doesn't like the way you dress." HA! Yes, I ate many a lunch in the bathroom stall or in the empty football bleachers. How did I get through it? I found my thing - music. I loved music. I listened to it all the time and it made me feel good. Then I started writing my own, and that made me feel even better. It still hurt me when they were cruel to me, but I had something that I loved - a whole world - that they couldn't touch, couldn't even imagine, and that made me strong."

When Amy was thirteen years old, she met Ben Moody, who was fourteen at that time and with whom she later formed Evanescence, at a summer camp.

Amy attended Pulasky Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas and also studied music theory and music composition for one semester. With Evanescence Amy became one of the leading ladies of rock music.

Amy used to be in a relationship with Shaun Morgan, the singer and guitar player of the South African rock band Seether. In 2004 the couple re-recorded Seether's song 'Broken' and it was a worldwide success.

The year 2005 brought lots of changes in Amy's life. While she broke up with her boyfriend Shaun Morgan in late summer 2005, she became the national speaker of the USA's epilepsy foundation and started a global campaign against epilepsy called Out of the Shadows. In November 2005 her friend, songwriting partner and bandmate Terry Balsamo suffered a stroke. Soon later, Amy sued her former manager Dennis Rider for negligence, sexual assault and battery. But 2005 also brought a posetive change for Amy: She fell in love again. Her new boyfriend is called Josh and is a 28-year-old therapist who lives and works for a Christian organisation in New York. Amy has known him since high school and he was also the one who asked Amy the famous "Are you happy?"-question, which was Amy's inspiration for Bring Me To Life. On 'The Open Door' Amy wrote another song inspired by him - 'Good Enough' - the first happy song Amy has written so far.

In the beginning of 2006, Amy finally sold her house in L.A. and moved to Manhattan. Her new apartment is located near a little park in a building which used to be a church.

The year 2007 couldn't have started better for Amy Lee: On January 8th Amy and her boyfriend Josh Hartzler got engaged after the concert in Toronto. Amy announced their engagement one day later live on MuchMusic Canada.

On May 6th, 2007 (05/06/07) the couple married. Here's what the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote about the wedding:
" For the 1 p.m. ceremony, the backyard was transformed into a picture-perfect setting replete with flowers. And, no, the goth goddess didn’t wear black but instead opted for an ivory-hued Victorian style dress and veil. Grandfather Bob Cargill of Fort Worth performed the ceremony. Sisters Carrie and Lori and friend Beth Wilson stood by her side, while Josh’s brothers Caleb and Aaron and his friend (and former Evanescence member) David Hodges stood by his. Evanescence guitarist Terry Balasamo was among the guests. The reception, with music by Brian Nahlin and Nick Devlin, was catered by Capers and included a robin’s egg-blue wedding cake by The Blue Cake Company. After a wedding night at the Peabody, the pair left for a honeymoon on an island south of the Bahamas."