Signed to Wind-up Records

Evanescence were having their demos mastered at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where a producer heard it and played the demos to his friend at Wind-up Records , head of A&R Diana Meltzer . Meltzer said what made her want to sign them was Lee’s voice, lyrics and their gothic sound. When she heard ” My Immortal ” she said she “knew it was a hit”. Evanescence was signed by Wind-up in 2001. The label flew them to New York, and told them that they loved their different sound and thought they had potential, but “we don’t really totally know what to do with you”, Lee recalled. They were then told, “if you were this good while distracted by school and all this other stuff, how good will you be if we put you in an environment where you have nothing to do but write and be influenced by your surroundings, like in Los Angeles.” They were relocated to Los Angeles, given an apartment and rehearsal space and enrolled in a gym, according to Meltzer, and Lee, who was very introverted, received help from an acting teacher to overcome her stage fright. Meltzer told HitQuarters in 2003 that, while she loved Lee’s voice, their gothic sound, and Lee and Moody had already exhibited “huge talent” with their prior demo material, they were still young and she felt they could benefit from more time to work on their debut album so they “could deliver a breakthrough sound”.