Chino Moreno (born Camillo Wong Moreno; June 20, 1973) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and contributing guitarist of Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sleep, Crosses, and Palms.

Moreno is well known for his distinctive screams, as well as his soothing and dramatic tenor voice while singing melodically. In 2007, he was placed at number 51 in Hit Parader's "Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time".

Early life

Moreno was born in Sacramento, California, as the second of five children of a Mexican father and a Native American and Irish mother;. He grew up in Sacramento's Oak Park area and attended McClatchy High School, where he met Abe Cunningham and Stephen Carpenter, with whom he would found Deftones in 1988. Before becoming a professional musician, Moreno had a day job at Tower Records' shipping department.

Musical career

Deftones

With his high-school friends Abe Cunningham and Stephen Carpenter, Moreno started jamming in Carpenter's garage regularly circa 1988. After Chi Cheng joined the three, Deftones was formed. Within two years, the group started playing club shows. They were signed to Maverick Records after one of their representatives saw them play in Los Angeles. Their first commercially released album was Adrenaline (1995), produced by Terry Date. While the album wasn't an instant success, extensive touring, word-of-mouth, and Internet promotion built the band a dedicated fan base, as well as helping Adrenaline to sell over 220,000 copies without the singles "7 Words" and "Bored" (as well as their music videos) receiving any airplay. For 1997's Around the Fur, the band expanded its sound, spending more time with Date, and giving more thought to the album's production. The record was highly anticipated and propelled Deftones to fame in the alternative metal scene on the strength of radio and MTV airplay for the singles "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)".