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Rocky Gray
Rocky Gray101
Birth Name William Gray
Date of Birth July 2, 1974 (age 37)
Genre Alternative metal, Christian metal, death metal

William Gray (born July 2, 1974 as William Gray) was the drummer for Evanescence from 2003 to 2007. A friend of Ben Moody, he was hired (along with John LeCompt and William Boyd) by Ben to play on the tour for Fallen. Rocky previously worked with John Lecompt when John was a lead singer in Killsystem. He also worked with John when John laid vocals on “Seems Like Forever” for Soul Embraced’s Immune album. He first performed with Evanescence in 1998 where he played drums on the track "Understanding" from Amy and Ben's first EP. Rocky co-wrote "My Tourniquet" for his band Soul Embraced, which was reworked and covered by Evanescence as "Tourniquet" on Fallen.

Rocky recorded drums on Evanescence's second album, The Open Door. He officially left Evanescence on May 4th, 2007, following John's exit. Rocky had already decided to leave Evanescence in January 2007 (probably because he wanted to work on his own projects, but this is just a theory). His contract with Wind-Up said that he had to finish the tour first and he wasn't allowed to publicize his plans about leaving prior to completing the job he was hired for. When John was fired, he defied Wind-Up and told the fans anyway. Amy Lee confirmed the reason for John and Rocky's exit:[1][2]

Here's the truth, when I said that John and Rocky both made it clear they were ready to move on, I meant it. They were very vocal about the fact that they didn't really care about evanescence at all, and just stayed around for the money. I knowingly let this negative energy grow within my band for a very long time because I was afraid of the appearance of falling apart, when in reality, trying to hold on to these guys is what was holding us back. I treated both john and rocky with nothing but kindness and respect, and I got nothing but jealousy and resentment in return. They were miserable. They are no longer playing with us because I love this band too much to see it driven into the ground. ... One little false fact that's been bugging me in the press about this — Rocky didn't quit. He never talked to me or our management at all... but he did tell most of the crew and the rest of the band that he planned to quit during the two weeks off after our shows in South Africa (during which I was getting married and would have no time to replace him). Fortunately, many of those people care about this project and came and warned me, so we were able to replace him in time to continue the tour as scheduled.[3]

In 2005, Rocky launched a clothing line called 'CrimeWave Clothing'. He is currently in 4 bands: Soul Embraced, Mourningside, Fatal Thirteen, and We Are The Fallen. The latter was formed in 2009 by ex-Evanescence members Ben Moody and LeCompt with American Idol singer Carly Smithson.

Rocky's immediate family includes his wife, Reneé, and his two kids, Abraham and Madison. Reneé was known in the Evanescence fan community because she used to provide inside information on new developments when the rest of the band was unavailable.

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