The goth-inspired Arkansas rock band Evanescence, with its Linkin Park-meets-Tori Amos sound backed by chugging guitars, easily made it to the top of the charts in 2003 with its Wind-Up Entertainment debut album, Fallen. Singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody formed the band at the end of the '90s after meeting in their early teens during a "youth camp," Moody said in a statement. "I heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's 'I'd Do Anything for Love' at the piano. So I went over to meet her, and she started singing for me. I was pretty much blown away, so I suckered her into joining a band with me."

As a duo, Evanescence didn't perform live, instead opting to release EPs and the full-length Origin. Lee told the BBC that Evanescence was mastering demos in Memphis, TN, when she and the band were discovered by producer Pete Matthews. He shopped the songs to record companies in New York, and Evanescence -- rounded out by bassist...