It’s been nearly seven years since Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington died, and now rumors have been swirling that the band might be coming back with Evanescence singer Amy Lee taking over as lead singer. However, these rumors seem to be just hearsay, as the short answer is, no, this is not happening.
It all started, according to Metro UK, when Jay Gordon, frontman for nu-metal/industrial rockers Orgy made some comments during an interview. “It’s going to be tough without Chester Bennington, but we’ll see. I hear they got a girl singer now. That’s what I heard,” Gordon said during an appearance on the Wired in the Empire radio show.
“Don’t quote me on that. I’m not sure who the singer is going to be, but I heard it was gonna be female,” he continued. “They might just try to move on like that. That ought to be interesting.”
Gordon’s comments got fans buzzing with speculation and eventually a rumor emerged that it was Lee who would be stepping in to handle lead vocals for Linkin Park. This led to Gordon clarifying his statements in a Facebook post. “With regards to this Linkin Park singer thing. I know nothing about any of that,” he said.
“People sure do love to take my words out of context. I love those guys and wish them the best,” Gordon added. “Wow I was like what in the actual f—? I said nothing about knowing any of that and never brought it up. I love Chester and there will never be another him ever.”
Eventually, Lee was asked about the rumors, and she very clearly stated that there are currently no plans for her to team up with Linkin Park. “That is an incredible compliment. I have not heard that. No, I have not been contacted or anything like that,” she said during an interview with Canada’s iHeart Radio. “But [I’m a] huge fan; feel like our worlds, our fanbases are a lot of the same people.”
Offering some background on how the two bands are connected, Lee said, “That’s really sweet…I don’t know if (Evanescence and Linkin Park) were on a festival together or whatever. We met. We were in the studio at the same time. When we were making “Fallen,” I just briefly got to have a conversation or two with Chester. He was really sweet.”
Lee then very directly stated, “But no, it’s not true. But that’s awesome. They should ask me about that. I don’t have a ton of free time, but I might do it part time.”