Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee called her family in Little Rock last week with some exciting news. She’s engaged. Dad John tells Paper Trails that Amy, 25, has known her 28-year-old fiance, Josh, since her high school days in Little Rock. He attended Arkansas Baptist, has a master’s degree and is employed by a Christian organization in New York working with chemically dependent patients.

John reports that Josh, who’s also a writer, lives in New York (as does Amy), and the pair have been dating for about 1 1/2 years. And Josh is apparently an old-fashioned kind of guy. He asked John for Amy’s hand a couple of weeks ago while the two men were walking together in Manhattan. At that time, Josh confided to John that he was awaiting an antique ring, expected it to arrive while the band was in Japan, and that he’d pop the question there. Instead, Josh proposed earlier, a few nights ago in Canada. “I guess the ring must have arrived early and it was burning a hole in Josh’s pocket,” says John. “And, yes, he got down on his knee.” The pair aren’t planning a rush to the altar but will instead enjoy their engagement for awhile, predicts John.