Tom Morello

Early Life

Tom Morello was born on May 30th, 1964 in New York City. He grew up in Libertyville, Illinois. He lived in Libertyville most of his life and attended Libertyville High School where he sang in the school chorus and was in the speech and drama club. He became interestd in politics early.

At 13, Tom joined a Led Zeppelin cover band as lead singer. At the same age, Tom purchased his first guitar at Rigoni Music in Libertyville. He wanted a solid-body Ovation guitar, but he didn't have enough money to buy one. Instead, he purchased a Kay guitar. He wanted to learn how to play Black Dog by Led Zeppelin, so he took two guitar lessons but was first taught how to tune his guitar and the C Major Scale so he put his guitar in his closet for three years.