Thomas Baptiste Morello or Tom Morello, as he

is more commonly known, is an American

guitarist who has been part of Rage Against the

Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman, an

acoustic solo act, and Street Sweeper Social

Club, his current band. Famed for his guitar

effects, unique solos, and use of tapping and

heavy riffs, he is a Grammy Award winning

musician as well as ranking 26th in Rolling

Stone’s greatest 100 guitarists.
 
Tom Morello was born on May 30 1964 in

Harlem, New York to his Irish-Italian mother

and Kenyan father who served as Kenya’s first

ambassador to the UN, whilst his uncle was Kenya’s first elected president. When Morello was just 16 months, his father returned to Kenya, and Morello was brought up in Libertyville Illinois, attending classes at the local high school with Adam Jones of Audioslave, with whom we was to form the band Electric Sheep in 1984.
 
In 1991 Morello formed Rage Against the Machine after his previous band Lock Up disbanded. In 1992 they signed to Epic Records and released their first self-titled album which was followed by a further three. In late 2000 lead singer Zack de la Rocha left and their fourth album ‘Renegades’ was a collection of cover songs from contributing artists.
 
Following the de la Rocha’s departure the remaining members teamed up with singer Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to form Audioslave. Audioslave produced three albums, of which the first reached triple platinum and the second platinum before the reunion of Rage Against the Machine at the Coachella Music Festival on April 29th 2007 before visiting England to headline the Reading and Leeds festivals in 2008.
 
During his tenure with Audioslave, Morello played with folk band The Nightwatchman from 2003 onwards. Following the breakup of Audioslave, Morello formed Street Sweeper Social Club in 2007 with Boots Riley of The Coup. In addition to these numerous projects, Morello has recorded with late singer Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and The Prodigy as well as featuring on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which features his trademark guitar sounds.