Evanescence were formed in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and former guitarist Ben Moody. The pair had met the previous year at a youth camp in Little Rock, where Moody heard Lee playing Meatloaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano. After experimenting with band names, such as "Childish Intentions" and "Stricken", they decided on "Evanescence", which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear"). 2 of their songs found playtime on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and igniting demand for a concert. The band eventually appeared live, and went on to release 2 EPs, the self titled "Evanescence" in 1998, of which around 100 copies were made, and "Sound Asleep" (also known as "Whisper") in 1999, which was limited to 50 copies. Their first full length demo, 2000's "Origin", is relatively unknown, although it (along with the EPs) contains demo versions of some of the songs on their debut album, "Fallen". Only 2,500 copies of "Origin" were produced, with the band encouraging fans to download the band's older songs from the Internet.

Lee and Moody's friends, John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd, all of whom had worked on Evanescence's earlier songs, joined in 2003, and the band signed with Wind-up Records. Whilst working on and promoting their debut, "Fallen", Evanescence accepted an offer from the video game company Nintendo to perform on the "Nintendo Fusion Tour" which they headlined in 2003. Once released, "Fallen" spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10, was certified 6 times platinum in the U.S. and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide (including 6.6 million in the U.S.). It was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard Top 200, and is 1 of 8 albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year on the Billboard Top 50. It also helped the band win 2 Grammy Awards.

However, co-founder Moody left the band during the European tour for "Fallen", reportedly because of creative differences, and was replaced by Terry Balsamo from Cold. In 2004, the new line up released a DVD/CD compilation, "Anywhere but Home", with the DVD including a concert in Paris, and the CD containing a previously unreleased song entitled "Missing", which was internationally released as a single and reached number 1 in Spain. Also on the CD are the live songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack), "Farther Away", and the band's cover of Korn's "Thoughtless".

Work on the second studio album, "The Open Door", progressed slowly for several reasons, including Amy Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production, other band members' side projects, guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke, and the loss of their former manager. In addition, more line up changes occurred prior to it's release, with a spokesperson for the band's label confirming in July 2006 that bassist Will Boyd had left the band for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family." Lee announced that Tim McCord, former Revolution Smile guitarist, would switch instruments and play bass for the band. In October 2006, "The Open Door" was released, and promptly sold 447,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week of sales. It also earned Evanescence their first number 1 ranking on the Billboard 200 album chart, becoming the 700th number 1 album in Billboard since the chart became a weekly feature in 1956. It has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.

In May 2007, John LeCompt announced that he had been fired from Evanescence, and also stated that drummer Rocky Gray had decided to quit. Wind-up Records immediately issued a press release stating that 2 Dark New Day members, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, would be joining the band to replace LeCompt and Gray, however Lee contradicted this by saying "We're just borrowing Will and Troy for a while" and that they would not be leaving Dark New Day.

Amy Lee has also stated she and the band are currently on a break - there is no current news of any future albums or tours.